Source: GMAT Prep
An automobile manufacturer offers a station wagon with either a 6-cylinder engine or a 4-cylinder engine and with either a manual transmission or an automatic transmission. A trailer hitch is also offered, but only on a station wagon with a 6-cylinder engine. How many combinations of the five options listed does the manufacturer offer for its station wagon?
A. 3
B. 4
C. 5
D. 6
E. 8
The OA is D.
An automobile manufacturer offers a station wagon with
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Total number of combinations with 6-cylinder engine wagons = 2*2 = 4 (manual or automatic and with or without a trailer hitch);BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: GMAT Prep
An automobile manufacturer offers a station wagon with either a 6-cylinder engine or a 4-cylinder engine and with either a manual transmission or an automatic transmission. A trailer hitch is also offered, but only on a station wagon with a 6-cylinder engine. How many combinations of the five options listed does the manufacturer offer for its station wagon?
A. 3
B. 4
C. 5
D. 6
E. 8
The OA is D.
Total number of combinations with 4-cylinder engine wagons = 2 (manual or automatic)
Total Total number of combinations with = 4 + 2 = 6
The correct answer: D
Hope this helps!
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We are given that an automobile manufacturer offers a station wagon with the following:BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: GMAT Prep
An automobile manufacturer offers a station wagon with either a 6-cylinder engine or a 4-cylinder engine and with either a manual transmission or an automatic transmission. A trailer hitch is also offered, but only on a station wagon with a 6-cylinder engine. How many combinations of the five options listed does the manufacturer offer for its station wagon?
A. 3
B. 4
C. 5
D. 6
E. 8
1) 6-cylinder engine or 4-cylinder engine
2) manual transmission or automatic transmission
3) trailer hitch - only with a 6-cylinder engine.
We need to determine the number of possible combinations.
So, we have 2 possible scenarios:
Scenario #1:
6-cylinder engine (1 option)
manual or automatic transmission (2 options)
trailer hitch or no trailer hitch (2 options)
Thus, for scenario #1, there are 1 x 2 x 2 = 4 possible options.
Scenario #2:
4-cylinder engine (1 option)
manual or automatic transmission (2 options)
Thus, for scenario #2, there are 1 x 2 = 2 possible options.
The total number of combinations is 4 + 2 = 6.
Alternate solution:
By looking at the answer choices, we see that the largest number is 8. That means it won't be more than 8 combinations. Therefore, we could list each possible outcome.
Let's use the following shorthand: 6c for 6-cylinder engine, 4c for 4-cylinder engine, m for manual transmission, a for automatic transmission, t for trailer hitch, and n for no trailer hitch. We have:
1) 6c-m-n
2) 6c-m-t
3) 6c-a-n
4) 6c-a-t
5) 4c-m-n
6) 4c-a-n
Recall that a trailer hitch can't be on a station wagon with a 4-cylinder engine, so we can't have 4c-m-t and 4c-a-t. Thus, there are only 6 combinations.
Answer: D
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Hi All,
Sometimes Combination Formula questions come with answers that are relatively small. In this prompt, we know that there are at least 3 options, but no more than 8 options. In these situations, it's usually pretty easy to "map out" all of the possible combinations, without having to do any special math.
We're told that a station wagon has a variety of 'traits':
1) Either a 6-cylinder engine or a 4-cylinder engine
2) Either a manual transmission or an automatic transmission
3) A trailer hitch (but ONLY on a 6-cylinder engine)
We're asked for the number of different combinations of traits on a station wagon. We can list them out:
6 cyl and manual
6 cyl and manual and hitch
6 cyl and automatic
6 cyl and automatic and hitch
4 cyl and manual
4 cyl and automatic
Total combinations = 6
Final Answer: D
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Sometimes Combination Formula questions come with answers that are relatively small. In this prompt, we know that there are at least 3 options, but no more than 8 options. In these situations, it's usually pretty easy to "map out" all of the possible combinations, without having to do any special math.
We're told that a station wagon has a variety of 'traits':
1) Either a 6-cylinder engine or a 4-cylinder engine
2) Either a manual transmission or an automatic transmission
3) A trailer hitch (but ONLY on a 6-cylinder engine)
We're asked for the number of different combinations of traits on a station wagon. We can list them out:
6 cyl and manual
6 cyl and manual and hitch
6 cyl and automatic
6 cyl and automatic and hitch
4 cyl and manual
4 cyl and automatic
Total combinations = 6
Final Answer: D
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich