of x and y?

[sanju09]

What is the average (arithmetic mean) of x and y?

(1) The average (arithmetic mean) of (x + 1) and (y - 1) is equal to the average (arithmetic mean) of x and y.

(2) The average (arithmetic mean) of x, y, and -1 is 1.

ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THIS QUESTION:
https://www.west.net/~stewart/gmat/

[sumit.sinha]

What is the average (arithmetic mean) of x and y?

(1) The average (arithmetic mean) of (x + 1) and (y - 1) is equal to the average (arithmetic mean) of x and y.

(2) The average (arithmetic mean) of x, y, and -1 is 1.


[spoiler]Source: https://www.west.net/~stewart/gmat[/spoiler]

what is (x+y) ?

(1) (x+1 + y -1)/2 = (x+y)/2
i.e. (x+y)/2 = (x+y)/2
(x+y) could be 0,1,2...and so on anything. INSUFFICIENT

(2) (x+y-1)/3 =1
i.e. x+ y = 4
SUFFICIENT

CORRECT ANSWER (B) IMO.

[puneetdua]

One more vote for B.

[tpr-becky]

I agree - the first statement only tells you what you already know becuase the +1 and -1 cancel each other out.

The second statement gives you another equation from which you can determine the value of x+y which is all you really need tofind their average.