GMAT Question of the Day – 9/1/2021

QUESTION

Ann and Pierre purchased $37 worth of French fries. Ann spent $3 on each order of French fries she bought, and Pierre spent $5 on each order of French fries he bought. How many orders of French fries did Ann purchase?

STATEMENT 1:

Ann and Pierre would have spent a total of $111 if Ann had spent $9 on each order of French fries she purchased, and Pierre had spent $15 on each order of French fries he purchased.

STATEMENT 2:

Ann and Pierre purchased a total of 9 orders of French fries.

ANSWER SELECTION

(A) Statement (1) BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) by itself is not.

(B) Statement (2) BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) by itself is not. (THIS IS CORRECT!)

(C) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, even though NEITHER statement BY ITSELF is sufficient.

(D) EITHER statement BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question.

(E) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question, requiring more data pertaining to the problem.

ANSWER EXPLANATION

CORRECT ANSWER IS B.

Let a be the number of orders that Ann purchased and let p be the number of orders that Pierre purchased. From the question stem, we can set up the equation 37 = 3a + 5p, which expresses the total cost of the French fries purchased by Ann and Pierre. In order to solve for the number of orders of French fries that Ann bought, we need to be able to set up another distinct equation that contains the variables a and p.

Statement (1): insufficient. From this information, we can write the equation 111 = 9a + 15b. We have another equation relating a and p, but is it distinct? No. Upon closer inspection, this is simply the result of multiplying both sides of the original equation 37 = 3a + 5p by 3. We can eliminate choices (A) and (D).

Statement (2): sufficient. From this statement, we can set up the equation 9 = a + b. Is this equation distinct from the original equation? Yes. This is therefore sufficient to find the value of a, or the number of orders of French fries that Ann purchased. Choice (B) is correct.

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