A certain diet program calls for eating daily calories from

A certain diet program calls for eating daily calories from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in the ratio of 40:30:30 respectively. On a certain day, did Bill follow this diet program? (1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories, and 1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories)

(1) One of the meals Bill ate contained 80 grams of carbohydrates, 60 grams of protein, and 60 grams of fat --> we have info only about one meal Bill ate. Not sufficient.
Though from this statement we can find out how much calories did Bill get from this meal:
80 grams of carbohydrates = 4*80 = 320 calories;
60 grams of protein = 4*60 = 240 calories;
60 grams of fat= 9*60 = 540 calories.

(2) Bill ate 1500 calories during the day --> no info about the ratio. Not sufficient.

(1)+(2) To follow his diet Bill should have had 30%*1,500=450 calories from fat but (1) tells that Bill already exceeded this limit in one particular meal, so clearly he did not follow his diet program. Sufficient.

Answer: C
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In my humble opinion the answer is A.

B is not sufficient alone becuase even if we know what is the total number of calories we don't know anything about the characteristics of carbo, protein and fat.

If we follow A then we can answer with certainty that he didn't follow his diet. We've enough data to say it with just 1st sentece.

is a question ambiguous? The question is asking if the guy fits the ratio. (1) Says to us that he definitely does. I don't see any restrictions strictly showing how many calories should be derived. Thus I also considered calories info irrelevant.

Bunuel, please help

To reiterate what Bunuel mentioned in his original solution, the key is that statement 1 only gives us information on what he ate for 1 meal that day. True, that meal followed the ratio, but statement 1 is not sufficient because the original question is asking whether the person followed the ratio THAT DAY, not just for 1 meal. We do not have information on what that person ate for other meals of the day.

Statement 2 is not sufficient either because we don't know the breakdown of the 1500 calories and cannot check the ratio.

However, when we combine both statements, they basically tells us that the person only ate 1 meal that day - the meal mentioned in statement 1. This is why C is the answer (1+2 are sufficient).

Hope this helps.

Tricky language traps... Where can I get more such questions to practice?

Bunuel KarishmaB

How do consider 1500 calories being comprised only of fats, protein and carbohydrates?The main statement just mentions that the ration of these three nutrients.

You don't have to assume that the day's calories must all come from these 3 only. We are given that the calories coming from these 3 need to be in the ratio 4:3:3.
In one meal he consumed 80 Gms of carbs (320 calories), 60 GMAT of protein (240 calories) and 60 Gms of fat (540 calories). Now to have the ratio of 4:3:3, you will need 540 calories from proteins and 720 calories from carbohydrates as well that day. This would add up to 1800 calories that day. But he had only 1500 calories that day. It means no matter what other meals he had, he certainly did not get his 1500 calories in the ratio 4:3:3 from carbs, proteins and fats.

And that is why we know he did not follow his diet.
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