An airplane was due north of a tropical island when

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An airplane was due north of a tropical island when hurricane warning arrived at noon. In what direction was the tropical island from the position of the airplane at 3 pm?

1) To circumvent the path of the hurricane, the airplane flew due west at 200 miles per hour from noon till 2 pm, and from 2 pm until 3 pm, it flew due south at 300 miles per hour.
2) At 3 pm, the airplane was exactly 450 miles from the tropical island.

OA E
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by deloitte247 » Sat Dec 07, 2019 6:24 pm
The plane is in the north of the tropical island.
Let the distance between the plane and tropical island = x
Question: In what direction was the tropical island from the position of the airplane at 3 pm?
Statement 1: To circumvent the path of the hurricane, the airplane flew due west at 200 miles per hour from noon till 2 pm, and from 2 pm till 3 pm, it flew due south at 300 miles per hour.
The value of x is unknown and the position of the plane could either be northwest or southwest. Hence, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT.

Statement 2: At 3 pm, the airplane was exactly 450 miles from the tropical island.
This only provides us with the distance that remains to be covered and not the total distance covered. There is no clue about positioning, hence, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT.

Combining both statements together:
x is unknown; position could either be in the North West or South West of the tropical island by 3 pm. Therefore, both statements combined together are NOT SUFFICIENT.

Answer = option E