GMAT Math : Data-Sufficiency Questions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GMAT Math

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #42 : Discrete Probability

Corinne replaced a card in a standard 52-card deck with the joker. What happened to the probability that a randomly-drawn card would be a black card - did it change or did it stay the same?

Statement 1: The card Corinne replaced was a jack.

Statement 2: The card Corinne replaced was a diamond.

Possible Answers:

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Since the number of cards in the deck remained unchanged, the probability of a random draw resulting in a black card changed if and only if the number of black cards was changed - that is, if the card Corinne replaced with the joker was a black card. Statement 2 alone, but not Statement 1 alone, answers that question.

Example Question #99 : Arithmetic

A box contains both white and black marbles. More white and black marbles are put in. Did the probability that a randomly drawn marble is white change?

Statement 1: Two thirds of the marbles in the box were white before the marbles were added.

Statement 2: Seven of the marbles added were white.

Possible Answers:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Neither statement alone is enough to answer the question, since neither alone yields clues as to the ratio of white marbles to black both before and after the addition.

Assume both statements hold. From Statement 1 alone, the probability of drawing a white marble was  before the addition. The probability of drawing a white marble remains  if and only if  of the marbles added were white. If this had happened, since, by Statement 2, seven of the marbles added were white, then the total number of marbles  added could be calculated by solving for :

However, the number of marbles must be an integer. Therefore, for the conditions of both statements to hold, it is impossible for the probability of drawing a white marble to have remained the same.

Example Question #91 : Arithmetic

Henry altered a six-sided die. Did the probability that it would come up a "1" increase, decrease, or stay the same?

Statement 1: If this altered die and a fair die are rolled, the probability of a sum of "12" coming up is .

Statement 2: If this altered die and a fair die are rolled, the probability of a sum of "2" coming up is .

Possible Answers:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Statement 1 yields no helpful information. The only way to roll a sum of "12"  with two dice is by rolling "6" on both; the probability of rolling a "6" on a given can change or remain constant without affecting that of rolling a "1".

Assume Statement 2 alone, and let  the probability of rolling a "1" on the altered die. There is only one way to roll a die so that its sum comes up a "2" - a double "1". Since the probability of rolling a "1" on the fair die is , by the multiplication principle, the probability of rolling a double six with the fair die and the die that Henry altered is . Since this is equal to , we solve for :

Henry's alterations increased the probability of a "6" coming up.

Example Question #51 : Discrete Probability

Jenny altered a coin. Did the probability that it would come up heads increase, decrease, or stay the same?

Statement 1: Jenny flipped the coin 100 times; it came up heads 55 times.

Statement 2: Her friend Susie then flipped the coin 1,000 times and it came up heads 557 times.

Possible Answers:

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Explanation:

The two statements together are insufficient.

Jenny's and Susie's experiments both yield empirical data, which is not in and of itself sufficient to draw a definite conclusion about the theoretical probability of any outcomes. While their results strongly suggest that the probability of the coin coming up heads has increased, it is entirely possible for a fair coin, or even a coin altered to come up tails more often, to be flipped with these results as well.

Example Question #102 : Arithmetic

Xenia altered a die. Did the probability that it would come up a 6 increase, decrease, or stay the same?

Statement 1: The probability that the sum of two rolls of the die will be a "11" decreased.

Statement 2: The probability that the sum of two rolls of the die will be "12" decreased.

Possible Answers:

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

The probability that a roll of an unaltered die will yield an outcome of "6" is ; the same holds for an outcome of "5". Let  and  the probabilities of rolling a "5" or a "6", respectively, on the altered die.

Assume Statement 1 alone.  There is only one way to roll a die twice so that the sum of the rolls comes up a "11" - a"5" and a "6", in either order. The probability of rolling a "5" and a "6" on the altered die in that order is , which is also that of the reverse event, so the probability of rolling an "11" is 

On an unaltered die, the probability of this happening would be 

By Statement 1, the alterations decreased this probability, so

and 

Without further information, it cannot be determined whether  increased, decreased, or remained the same.  

For example, if  and 

.

If  and 

.

Both scenarios fit the conditions of Statement 1, but in one, the probability of rolling a "6" on the die remained the same, and in the other, the probability decreased. Statement 1 gives insufficient information.

 

Assume Statement 2 alone. There is only one way to roll a die twice so that the sum of the rolls comes up a "12" - a double "6". The probability doing this twice on the altered die is . On an unaltered die, the probability of this happening would be ; however, since, by Statement 1, the alterations decreased this probability, 

Xenia's alterations decreased the probability of rolling a "6" on the die.

Example Question #103 : Arithmetic

Quentin altered a die. Did the probability that it would come up a 6 increase, decrease, or stay the same?

Statement 1: Quentin rolled the die 120 times; it came up a "6" 20 times.

Statement 2: His friend Allen then rolled the die 600 times; it came up a "6" 100 times.

Possible Answers:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Explanation:

The two statements together are insufficient.

Quentin's and Allen's experiments both yield empirical data, which is not in and of itself sufficient to draw a definite conclusion about the theoretical probability of any outcomes. While their results strongly suggest that the probability of the die coming up a "6" remained unchanged (since , the probability of the roll of a fair die resulting in an outcome of "6"), it is entirely possible for an experiment with a biased die to yield these results.

Example Question #104 : Arithmetic

Roger replaced a card in a standard 52-card deck with the joker. What happened to the probability that a randomly-drawn card would be a red card - did it change or did it stay the same?

Statement 1: The card Roger took out of the deck was a heart.

Statement 2: Roger ran 100 experiments using the modified deck, each involving a shuffle and a draw; he drew a red card 48 times.

Possible Answers:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Since the number of cards in the deck remained unchanged, the probability of a random draw resulting in a black card changed if and only if the number of red cards was changed - that is, if the card Roger replaced with the joker was a red card.

Statement 2 alone provides this information. Statement 1 is unhelpful, in that it deals with an empirical result. It is entirely possible for this to happen in an unmodified deck, or even in a deck with more black cards than red.

Example Question #102 : Arithmetic

Brandy altered a coin. Did the probability of a toss of the coin coming up heads increase or decrease?

Statement 1: The probability that, if the coin is tossed four times, all four tosses will result in tails decreased.

Statement 2: The probability that, if the coin is tossed six times, all six tosses will result in tails decreased.

Possible Answers:

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Let  be the probability that a single toss will come up tails.

Assume Statement 1 alone. 

The probability of a single toss of a fair coin coming up heads (or tails) is ; the probability of five such outcomes in a row is .

The probability of four tails in a row on the altered coing will be , which is less than  by Statement 2. Therefore,

,

The probability of one toss of the coin coming up tails decreased, so the probability of it coming up heads increased.

A similar argument can be used to demonstrate that Statement 2 allows the same conclusion to be drawn.

Example Question #1083 : Data Sufficiency Questions

Dick replaced a card in a standard 52-card deck with the joker. What happened to the probability that a randomly-drawn card would be a black card - did it change or did it stay the same?

Statement 1: Dick did not look at the card he took out of the deck.

Statement 2: The card Dick took out of the deck was a spade.

Possible Answers:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question. 

Correct answer:

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Since the number of cards in the deck remained unchanged, the probability of a random draw resulting in a black card changed if and only if the number of black cards was changed - that is, if the card Dick replaced with the joker was a black card. Statement 2, but not Statement 1, provides this information. Note that Statement 1 is irrelevant - whether Dick knew the color of the card does not change any theoretical probability.

Example Question #52 : Discrete Probability

Jeremiah has a bag of coins. What are the odds of him pulling a  euro coin followed by a  euro coin?

I) There are three types of coins in the bag;  cent coins,  euro coins, and  euro coins.

II) There are twice as many  euro coins as there are  cent coins.

 

Possible Answers:

Statement II is sufficient to answer the question, but statement I is not sufficient to answer the question.

Statement I is sufficient to answer the question, but statement II is not sufficient to answer the question.

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

Either statement is sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

Explanation:

In order to calculate probability, we need to know the total number of coins, as well as the number of each type of coin.

In this case, I) tells us how many types of coins there are, and II) gives us a clue about the ratio of 5 euro to 50 cent coins.

The key information we are missing is the amount of 2 euro coins that are in the bag. Without this piece of information neither statement will allow us to answer the question.

Therefore, we do not have enough information to answer this question.

 

Tired of practice problems?

Try live online GMAT prep today.

1-on-1 Tutoring
Live Online Class
1-on-1 + Class
Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors