A certain IT department of fewer than 15 people hires coders

(2) uses plural wording: "... coders' salaries were ..." so we can assume that there is more than 1 coder. Though I agree that GMAT would probably made this clearer.

Hope it's clear.

why is it reasonable to assume there is more than 1 coder?[/quote]

(2) uses plural wording: "... coders' salaries were ..." so we can assume that there is more than 1 coder. Though I agree that GMAT would probably made this clearer.

Hope it's clear.[/quote]

Thank You Bunuel for clarification.

Just think about the problem before lifting the pen.

Department has coders(x) + system admins(y).

A) 55x + 45y = 550,000

11x + 9y = 110,000
After that use brute force to determine the value of x and y. Remember x + y <15.
You will get a unique soln.

b) 55000x+45000y-(30000y + 58000x) = 57000

Use brute force to get the answer. It will be unique.

In this case it is coders + sys administrators < 11.. How is it possible to test a wide range of values ?

At least if it was c + s = 11 we would have limited options, but since the situation here is c + s <11, there can be do many options

Shouldn't we be multiplying the LHS by 12? (considering that the figures given are avg salaries and RHS is denoting yearly payout)

Bunuel

Hi saleem1992,

We have two pieces of information that limit the possibilities: the number of each type of worker AND either the total salaries (in Fact 1) or the money saved (in Fact 2).

As an example of how there are limited options, consider what were told in Fact 1....

Fact 1: ......the yearly payroll for the IT department would be $535,000.

$535,000 is a rather specific number and it's made up of a certain number of $55,000 employees and $45,000 employees. While it would take a bit of 'brute force' work, it wouldn't take that much to eliminate the wrong answers.

For example:
10 Coders = 10(55k) = 550,000 which is TOO MUCH MONEY. Therefore, the number of coders MUST be less than 10.
9 Coders = 9(55k) = 495,000, leaving 40,000 left over, but that's not the right amount of money for another employee. The number of coders CANNOT = 9 either.
Etc.

Working down, you'll eventually find that there's just one set of values that fits these parameters. Thus, Fact 1 is SUFFICIENT.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

I have a problem with the wording of the question.
Just want to confirm is it me or the fact that the opening statement says the IT Dept "Hires" coders and systems administrators makes it seem like total number = Already present IT people (less than 15) + Coders and System Admin.

That interpretation could be avoided in my view if the Question did not add "hires"

Please let me know if i am missing something in the language of the original question.

Yes, the word "hires" could have been avoided since it hints at additions to the total number i.e. 15. But the rest of the question clarifies that "hires" means the team has "coders" and "system administrators". Mind you, even in the actual GMAT, the wording will not be what we want. Overall, the question should clarify and not leave any ambiguity. This question does a reasonable job of that and is hence acceptable.

I got to the equations but wasn't sure of how to solve these. I have come across such questions before as well where one equation with 2 variables can be solved. Is there a way of doing this? I find it extremely tough to just put in numbers. How can we be sure that there is a unique solution?

Case 2 in this post discusses this concept: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/06 ... -of-thumb/

It shows you how to get all integer solutions given an equation in two variables. Sometimes, you will get one unique solution to the equation. The post tells you how to find it.

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