Did the sum of the prices of three shirts exceed \(\$60?\)

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Did the sum of the prices of three shirts exceed \(\$60?\)

(1) The price of the most expensive of the shirts exceeded \(\$30.\)
(2) The price of the least expensive of the shirts exceeded \(\$20.\)

[spoiler]OA=B[/spoiler]

Source: Official Guide
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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VJesus12 wrote:
Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:10 am
Did the sum of the prices of three shirts exceed \(\$60?\)

(1) The price of the most expensive of the shirts exceeded \(\$30.\)
(2) The price of the least expensive of the shirts exceeded \(\$20.\)

[spoiler]OA=B[/spoiler]

Source: Official Guide
Kudos for a correct solution.[/quote]

Target question: Did the sum of the prices of three shirts exceed $60?

Statement 1: The price of the most expensive of the shirts exceeded $30
This statement doesn't FEEL sufficient, so I'll TEST some values.
Case a: the shirt prices are $31, $32 and $33, in which case the sum of the 3 prices EXCEEDS $60
Case b: the shirt prices are $11, $12 and $33, in which case the sum of the 3 prices DOES NOT exceed $60
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Aside: For more on this idea of plugging in values when a statement doesn't feel sufficient, you can read my article: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/dat ... lug-values

Statement 2: The price of the least expensive of the shirts exceeded $20
If the least expensive shirt costs 20+ dollars, then the other 2 shirts also cost 20+ dollars each
(20+ dollars) + (20+ dollars) + (20+ dollars) = 60+ dollars
So, we can conclude that the sum of the 3 prices EXCEEDS $60
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT

Answer = B

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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