Walkabout wrote:
When a player in a certain game tossed a coin a number of times, 4 more heads than tails resulted. Heads or tails resulted each time the player tossed the coin. How many times did heads result?
(1) The player tossed the coin 24 times.
(2) The player received 3 points each time heads resulted and 1 point each time tails resulted, for a total of 52 points.
Given: When a player in a certain game tossed a coin a number of times, 4 more heads than tails resulted. Heads or tails resulted each time the player tossed the coin. Let H = the total number of heads that resulted
Let T = the total number of tails that resulted
So, from the given information we can write:
H - T = 4Target question: What is the value of H? Statement 1: The player tossed the coin 24 times. We can write:
H + T = 24, which means we now have the following system of equations:
H - T = 4H + T = 24Since we have a system of 2 different linear equations with 2 variables, we COULD solve the system for H and T, which means we could answer the
target question with certainty
[although we would never waste precious time on tests they actually performing the necessary calculations]Statement 1 is SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: The player received 3 points each time heads resulted and 1 point each time tails resulted, for a total of 52 pointsWe can write:
3H + 1T = 52, which means we now have the following system of equations:
H - T = 43H + 1T = 52Since we have a system of 2 different linear equations with 2 variables, we COULD solve the system for H and T, which means we could answer the
target question with certainty
Statement 2 is SUFFICIENT
Answer: D
Cheers,
Brent