A ship's hold is loaded only with barrels of salted herring

Question

A ship's hold is loaded only with barrels of salted herring, weighing 250 pounds each, and cases of crackers, weighing 75 pounds each. What is the total weight of the cargo in the hold?

(1) There are 251 barrels of salted herring and twice as many cases of crackers.

(2) This ship carries 5 pounds of salted herring for every 3 pounds of crackers.

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odionam · Answer

A is answer as St1 alone provide no. of barrels of salted herring 251 and no.of cases of crackers which twice of SH=502 and weight of each is given so we can calculate total load 
St 2 ratio of weight is given from here we can't calculate exact weight of each individual entity so not sufficient 
St 1alone sufficient.

dhart · Answer

argument says ships hold loaded with herrings wirghing 250 per barrel and crackers cases, each case weighing twice as much as a barrel. and what actual weight of herring and crackers in the ship's hold
stmt 1 is sufficent 251 barrels *250 pounds /barrel+ twice (502) cases * 75 cases 
stmt 2 doesnt give the any idea abput the weights of herrings and crackers

i 'd also like to go with option A

onlyPlanA · Answer

Um.. I am not sure but is there a trap here? When the question says, "barrels of salted herring, weighing 250 pounds each", does that mean herring in each barrel weigh 250 pounds or the barrel itself weighs 250 pounds and then we have to add the weight of herring to it. Same goes for the cases of crackers.

If yes, the answer is C. If not, the answer is A, IMO.

If yes, the answer is C. If not, the answer is A, IMO.

egmat · Answer

Hi onlyPlanA,

Good instinct to check the wording, but there's no hidden trap here. Let me untangle it.

Read the phrase as a unit: "barrels of salted herring, weighing 250 pounds each" attaches the 250 pounds to the whole item as it sits in the hold - one loaded barrel = 250 pounds, one case of crackers = 75 pounds. The barrel and its contents are counted together as a single 250-pound object. There is no separate barrel weight waiting to be added on top. Same for the crackers.

That's the standard way the GMAT phrases these: the weight given is the full weight of each unit of cargo. So once Statement (1) tells you 251 barrels and 502 cases, the total is locked:

- 251 x 250 = 62,750
- 502 x 75 = 37,650
- Total = 100,400 pounds

One definite value - Statement (1) is sufficient - A.

Why C still wouldn't work even on your reading. Suppose you did treat 250 as the empty barrel and the herring inside as unknown extra weight. Look at what Statement (2) actually gives you: a ratio - 5 pounds of herring for every 3 pounds of crackers. A ratio has no absolute size. It's satisfied by 5 and 3 pounds, or by 500 and 300 pounds, or any multiple. So (2) can never pin down an actual total weight, and it couldn't supply the "missing herring weight" you were worried about either.

So the ambiguity you spotted doesn't change anything: (2) is not sufficient to rescue the total under any interpretation, and the intended reading makes (1) fully self-contained. The answer stays A, much like onlyPlanA

Answer: A

onlyPlanA

Um.. I am not sure but is there a trap here? When the question says, "barrels of salted herring, weighing 250 pounds each", does that mean herring in each barrel weigh 250 pounds or the barrel itself weighs 250 pounds and then we have to add the weight of herring to it. Same goes for the cases of crackers.

If yes, the answer is C. If not, the answer is A, IMO.

Answer: A

onlyPlanA · Answer

Yes, I realized later that even C option would not be correct. Thank you for such detailed explanation!

A ship's hold is loaded only with barrels of salted herring

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A ship's hold is loaded only with barrels of salted herring