scoobydooby wrote:when deciding about statement 2 can we take some hint from the statement 1 that the median is 70? (since the statements never contradict each other in DS)
As cramya points out, you can't use Statement 1 when you are considering Statement 2 alone - if you do, you're really using both Statements together. Indeed, while the median *might* be 70 when we use Statement 2, it might be different from 70 as well.
oks wrote:A certain list consists of five different integers. Is the average of the two greatest integers in the list greater than 70?
a. The median of the integers in the list is 70
b. The average of the integers in the list is 70.
My answer is the correct one - D, but it took me a long time to figure out that B could be a standalone solution as well.
Thanks!
Statement 2 is sufficient for quite a simple reason - if you remove the smallest element from a set, the average can't possibly go down (and unless all the elements are identical, the average will always go up). So if I have a five-element set with different elements and an average of 70, and then I take out the three smallest elements, the average must be larger than 70 afterwards.
If this were a real world problem, I think the answer would be clear. Say you're enrolled in an undergrad program where your courses are graded from 0 to 100, you're taking five courses, and you have an overall average of 70 on these five courses. If someone offers you the option to throw away your three lowest marks to calculate your overall average, would this be to your advantage? Well, of course it would, unless all five of your grades are 70, in which case your average would still be 70. That's the same idea as in this question.
~! 
