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Overlapping Sets

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Overlapping Sets

by kris610 » Sat Dec 10, 2011 3:45 pm
Not sure if I can post the full question from the Official Guide:

Problem Solving: Q 127.
"In Jefferson School 300 students study French or Spanish..."

When the question says "study French, Spanish or both", does this imply that the group "neither french nor spanish" is zero? Does "one, other or both" imply that neither is 0? Any pointers are appreciated.
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by GmatMathPro » Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:00 pm
kris610 wrote:Not sure if I can post the full question from the Official Guide:

Problem Solving: Q 127.
"In Jefferson School 300 students study French or Spanish..."

When the question says "study French, Spanish or both", does this imply that the group "neither french nor spanish" is zero? Does "one, other or both" imply that neither is 0? Any pointers are appreciated.
Yes, it means neither is zero. If they wanted to include neither, they would have to say "study French, Spanish, both, or neither", but as stated neither is definitely zero.

To make it clearer, think of it this way. Let's say you're talking to one of these students who is allegedly one of the 300 that study "french or spanish or both" and you say to him, "So you're one of the people who studies French, Spanish, or both, huh?" And he responds, "Yup! I study neither!" In that context it's pretty clear that applying the label of "studies french, spanish, or both" to this kid is pretty inaccurate. So that's what I would do if I were trying to pin down the meaning of something like that. Try to think about it in a different context that makes it more clear which interpretation is appropriate.
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