jjjinapinch wrote:What was the range of the selling prices of the 30 wallets sold by a certain store yesterday?

(1) 1/3 of the wallets had a selling price of $24 each.
(2) The lowest selling price of the wallets was 1/3 the highest selling price of the wallets.

Official Guide question
Answer: E

Range = Highest value - Lowest value

In this question,

Range of the prices = Highest price - Lowest price

Statement 1: 1/3 of the wallets had a selling price of $24 each.

This cannot help it. We can get the highest price and the lowest price of the 30 items. Insufficient.

Statement 2: The lowest selling price of the wallets was 1/3 the highest selling price of the wallets.

Say the highest selling price = x, thus, the lowest selling price = x/3

Range = x - x/3 = 2x/3

However, we do not know the value of x. Insufficient.

Statement 1 & 2:

From (1), we do not know which part from the lot of 30 items is being referred.

1. If it is the highest priced items, then x = 24, and the Range = 2x/3 = (2*24)/3 = 16.

2. If it is the lowest priced items, then x/3 = 24 => x = 72, and the Range = 2x/3 = (2*72)/3 = 48.

No unique value. Insufficient.

The correct answer: E

Hope this helps!

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Hi jjjinapinch,

We're told that 30 wallets were sold at a store. We're asked for the RANGE in the prices (meaning the largest price - smallest price). This question can be solved by TESTing VALUES.

1) 1/3 of the wallets had a selling price of $24 each.

This Fact tells us that 10 (of the 30) wallets had a price of $24, but we don't know the largest price nor the smallest price of the group, so there are clearly multiple answers to this question.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT

2) The lowest selling price of the wallets was 1/3 the highest selling price of the wallets.

IF....
The lowest price = $10
Then the largest price = $30
And the range = $20

IF....
The lowest price = $15
Then the largest price = $45
And the range = $30
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT

Combined, no additional work is needed. Both examples in Fact 2 could include the 10 wallets that cost $24 each (without impacting the lowest or largest prices of the other wallets) and lead to different answers.
Combined, INSUFFICIENT

Final Answer: E

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Rich

jjjinapinch wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:30 am

What was the range of the selling prices of the 30 wallets sold by a certain store yesterday?

(1) 1/3 of the wallets had a selling price of $24 each.
(2) The lowest selling price of the wallets was 1/3 the highest selling price of the wallets.

Official Guide question
Answer: E

Solution:

Question Stem Analysis:

We need to determine the range of the selling prices of the 30 wallets sold by a certain store. Recall that range is the difference between the highest value and the lowest value in a set of numbers. Therefore, if we can determine the highest price and the lowest price of the wallets, then we can determine the range of the prices.

Statement One Alone:

From statement one, we see that 10 of the wallets were sold for $24 each. However, since we know neither the highest price nor the lowest price of the wallets, we can’t determine the range of the prices. Statement one alone is not sufficient.

Statement Two Alone:

From statement two, we see that the range is 2/3 the highest price of the wallets. However, since we don’t know the highest price of the wallets, we can’t determine the range of the prices. Statement two alone is not sufficient.

Statements One and Two Together:

Recall that the range is 2/3 the highest price of the wallests. However, since we still don’t know the highest price of the wallets (and there is no indication that $24 is the highest price of the wallets), we can’t determine the range of the prices. Both statements together are not sufficient.

Answer: E