Rope cut into pieces

[sairamGmat]

If a rope is cut into three pieces of unequal length, what is the length of the shortest of these pieces of rope?
(1) The combined length of the longer two pieces of rope is 12 meters.
(2) The combined length of the shorter two pieces of rope is 11 meters.

The official answer is E


I was thinking the only piece combination that will satisfy both (1) and (2) is 6m 6m 5m. And thought it is C.

Can any one throw light on why it is the OA?

[kvcpk]

If a rope is cut into three pieces of unequal length, what is the length of the shortest of these pieces of rope?
(1) The combined length of the longer two pieces of rope is 12 meters.
(2) The combined length of the shorter two pieces of rope is 11 meters.

The official answer is E


I was thinking the only piece combination that will satisfy both (1) and (2) is 6m 6m 5m. And thought it is C.

Can any one throw light on why it is the OA?

It is not mandatory that rope be cut into integer length.
it could be 6.1,5.9,5.1 also.

Hope this helps!!

[Stuart@KaplanGMAT]

If a rope is cut into three pieces of unequal length, what is the length of the shortest of these pieces of rope?
(1) The combined length of the longer two pieces of rope is 12 meters.
(2) The combined length of the shorter two pieces of rope is 11 meters.

The official answer is E


I was thinking the only piece combination that will satisfy both (1) and (2) is 6m 6m 5m. And thought it is C.

Can any one throw light on why it is the OA?

Hi,

you should have known that something was up, since the numbers you chose aren't actually permissible.

From the question stem:

If a rope is cut into three pieces of unequal length...

Once you realize that 6/6/5 aren't allowed, you'd figure out that you have to select non-integers.