800guy wrote:In a consumer survey, 85% of those surveyed liked at least one of three products: 1, 2, and 3. 50% of those asked liked product 1, 30% liked product 2, and 20% liked product 3. If 5% of the people in the survey liked all three of the products, what percentage of the survey participants liked more than one of the three products?
A) 5
B) 10
C) 15
D) 20
E) 25
When a question involves overlaps among groups -- some elements in one group, some in more than one group -- use a Venn diagram so that you can see the situation more clearly.
Please refer to the attached Venn diagram when reviewing the explanation below.
The total of everything contained in the Venn Diagram is 85.
But if we add the values we've been given for each circle, we get Circle X + Circle Y + Circle Z = 50 + 30 + 20 = 100.
Why? Because we've double-counted everything contained in 2 of the circles and triple-counted everything contained in all 3 circles:
When we count all of circle X and all of circle Y, everything in both X and Y (the overlap) gets counted twice.
When we count all of circle X and all of circle Z, everything in both X and Z (the overlap) gets counted twice.
When we count all of circle Y and all of circle Z, everything in both Y and Z (the overlap) gets counted twice.
When we count all of circle X, all of circle Y, and all of circle Z, everything contained in all 3 circles (the overlap) gets counted 3 times.
So the number contained in 2 of the circles has to be subtracted from the total once, the number contained in all 3 circles has to be subtracted from the total twice.
Let B = number in 2 of the circles.
85 = 50 + 30 + 20 - B - (2*5)
85 = 90 - B
B = 5
So 5 are in 2 circles, 5 are in all 3 circles.
5 + 5 = 10 who liked more than 1 product.
Since we have 100 people, 10/100 = 10%.
The correct answer is B.
When you have groups with a double and triple overlap, remember this rule:
The number contained in 2 out of the 3 groups has to be subtracted once from the total.
The number contained in all 3 groups has to be subtracted twice from the total.
Hope this helps!
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