BTGmoderatorDC wrote:A store sold 6 bicycles with an average sale price of $1,000. What was the price of the most expensive bicycle?
(1) The median price was $1,000.
(2) The range of prices was $600.
Target question: What was the price of the most expensive bicycle?
Given: The store sold 6 bicycles with an average sale price of $1,000.
This means the SUM of the 6 bikes = $6000 (since $6000/6 bikes = $1000 average)
Statement 1: The median price was $1,000.
This statement doesn't FEEL sufficient, so I'll TEST some values.
There are several scenarios that satisfy statement 1. Here are two:
Case a: the prices are {1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000} in which case
the most expensive bike is $1000
Case b: the prices are {900, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1100} in which case
the most expensive bike is $1100
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 range of prices was $600
This statement doesn't FEEL sufficient, so I'll TEST some values.
There are several scenarios that satisfy statement 2. Here are two:
Case a: the prices are {700, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1300} in which case
the most expensive bike is $1300
Case b: the prices are {600, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1200, 1200} in which case
the most expensive bike is $1200
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statements 1 and 2 combined
There are STILL several scenarios that satisfy BOTH statements. Here are two:
Case a: the prices are {700, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1300} in which case
the most expensive bike is $1300
Case b: the prices are {600, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1200, 1200} in which case
the most expensive bike is $1200
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT
Answer: E
Cheers,
Brent
