During a certain year, what fraction of the 32 million

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gmat_guy666: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 48; Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:51 am; Thanked: 6 times

by gmat_guy666 » Tue Oct 14, 2014 6:17 am

During a certain year, what fraction of the 32 million union members paid 80 percent or less of their annual union dues?

(1) During this certain year, 37.5 percent of all 32 million union members left 19 percent or less of their annual union dues unpaid.

(2) The ratio of the number of union members who paid 80 percent or less of their annual union dues to the numbers of members who paid more than 80 percent of their union dues in this certain year is 3:5

OA B

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Data Sufficiency | Tue Oct 14, 2014 6:17 am

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by [email protected] » Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:11 am

Hi gmat_guy666,

This DS question, while a little "wordy" in spots, is really more about your organizational skills than your math skills.

We're asked what FRACTION of the 32 million union members PAID 80% OR LESS of their annual union dues during a certain year.

Fact 1: 37.5% of the union members left 19% OR LESS of their union dues UNPAID.

Saying that "37.5% left 19% OR LESS unpaid" means the same as saying "37.5% paid 81% OR MORE of their dues".

By extension, the other 62.5% paid LESS THAN 81%, but that's NOT what the question asked for (the question asked for the fraction that paid 80% or LESS). There is a small group of people - the 1% between 80% and 81% - that we don't know enough about. The size of that group will affect the answer to the question.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT

Fact 2: The ratio who pads 80% OR LESS to the members who paid MORE THAN 80% is 3:5

This Fact defines the exact 2 groups that we need to know about. The ratio of 3:5 means that 3/8 of the employees paid 80% OR LESS and 5/8 of the employees paid MORE THAN 80%. This information answers the question.
Fact 2 is SUFFICIENT.

Final Answer: B

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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