A craftsperson made 126 ornaments and put them all into

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 2233
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2017 2:04 pm
Followed by:6 members
A craftsperson made 126 made ornaments and put them all into boxes. If each box contained either 6 ornaments or 24 ornaments, how many of the boxes contained ornaments?

1) Fewer than 4 of the boxes contained 6 ornaments.
2) More than 3 of the boxes contained 24 ornaments.

The OA is A

Source: GMAT Prep

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 7265
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 43 times
Followed by:29 members

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Thu Oct 31, 2019 5:22 pm
swerve wrote:A craftsperson made 126 made ornaments and put them all into boxes. If each box contained either 6 ornaments or 24 ornaments, how many of the boxes contained ornaments?

1) Fewer than 4 of the boxes contained 6 ornaments.
2) More than 3 of the boxes contained 24 ornaments.

The OA is A

Source: GMAT Prep
We can let a = the number of boxes containing 6 ornaments each and b = the number of boxes containing 24 ornaments each. We can create the equation:

6a + 24b = 126

6a = 126 - 24b

Dividing both sides of the equation by 6, we have: a = 21 - 4b

We see that the value of b could be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, and the value of a would then be 21, 17, 13, 9, or 1, respectively.

Statement One Only:

Fewer than 4 of the boxes contained 6 ornaments.

In other words, a < 4. From the stem analysis, we see that if a < 4, then a must be 1 and hence b must be 5. So the total number of boxes is 1 + 5 = 6. Statement one alone is sufficient.

Statement Two Only:

More than 3 of the boxes contained 24 ornaments.

In other words, b > 3. From the stem analysis, we see that if b > 3, then b must be 4 or 5, and hence, a must be 9 or 1, respectively. In the former case, the total number of boxes is 4 + 9 = 13; however, in the latter case, the total number of boxes is 5 + 1 = 6. Statement two alone is not sufficient.

Answer: A

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

Image

See why Target Test Prep is rated 5 out of 5 stars on BEAT the GMAT. Read our reviews

ImageImage