At what speed was Erik running when he was at the halfway point of his route?
1. Erik's route was 10 miles long and took him 2 hours to complete.
2. Erik ran at an average speed of 5 miles per hour on the route
OA E
Source: Veritas Prep
At what speed was Erik running when he was at the halfway po
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We are asked to find out Erik's speed when he was at the halfway point of his route. Note that his speed may vary through his route many times.BTGmoderatorDC wrote:At what speed was Erik running when he was at the halfway point of his route?
1. Erik's route was 10 miles long and took him 2 hours to complete.
2. Erik ran at an average speed of 5 miles per hour on the route
OA E
Source: Veritas Prep
Let's take each statement one by one.
1. Erik's route was 10 miles long and took him 2 hours to complete.
From this data, we can compute Erik's average speed = 10 miles / 2 hours = 5 miles per hour. But Erik's could have been running at the halfway at 5 mph, greater than 5 mph or less than 5 mph. No unique answer.
2. Erik ran at an average speed of 5 miles per hour on the route.
This is the same statement as Statement 1. Insufficient.
(1) and (2) together
Both the statements are actually the same. Insufficient.
The correct answer: E
Hope this helps!
-Jay
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- Brent@GMATPrepNow
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IMPORTANT: The two statements essentially provide the exact same information.BTGmoderatorDC wrote:At what speed was Erik running when he was at the halfway point of his route?
1. Erik's route was 10 miles long and took him 2 hours to complete.
2. Erik ran at an average speed of 5 miles per hour on the route
OA E
Source: Veritas Prep
If it took Erik 2 hours to travel 10 miles, we can conclude that his average speed was 5 miles per hour.
When the two statements provide the same information in a Data Sufficiency question, the correct answer must be either D or E
Target question: At what speed was Erik running when he was at the halfway point of his route?
Statements 1 and 2 combined
There are several scenarios that satisfy BOTH statements. Here are two:
Case a: Erik traveled the first 1 mile at 1 mile per hour, and then traveled the last 9 miles at 9 miles per hour. So, at the halfway mark (upon completion of the 5th mile), Erik was running at a speed of 9 mph
Case b: Erik traveled the first 2 miles at 2 miles per hour, and then traveled the last 8 miles at 8 miles per hour. So, at the halfway mark (upon completion of the 5th mile), Erik was running at a speed of 8 mph
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT
Answer: E
Cheers,
Brent