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At the beginning of the day: number of dogs/number of cats = 5x/3x (x is a positive integer)

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = (5x-2)/3x

Depending on particular values of x, we will get different ratios. For example:
x = 1 --> dogs/cats = 3/3
x = 2 --> dogs/cats = 8/6
Inconsistent answer => Insufficient statement

ELIMINATE (A) and (D). KEEP (B), (C) and (E)

(2) The store sold 1/3 of its cats that day.

--> The number of cats sold: (1/3)3x = x
--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = 5x/(3x-x) = 5x/2x = 5/2
For whatever values of x, we always get sufficient answers => Sufficient statement

(B) IS CORRECT!
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Lucy Phuong
At the beginning of the day: number of dogs/number of cats = 5x/3x (x is a positive integer)

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = (5x-2)/3x

Depending on particular values of x, we will get different ratios. For example:
x = 1 --> dogs/cats = 3/3
x = 2 --> dogs/cats = 8/6
Inconsistent answer => Insufficient statement

ELIMINATE (A) and (D). KEEP (B), (C) and (E)

(2) The store sold 1/3 of its cats that day.

--> The number of cats sold: (1/3)3x = x
--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = 5x/(3x-x) = 5x/2x = 5/2
For whatever values of x, we always get sufficient answers => Sufficient statement

(B) IS CORRECT!
Hi.
In statement 2 there is no information regarding number of dogs sold... So B is insufficient.
I think E should be answer.
Correct me if I am wrong.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app
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Lucy Phuong
At the beginning of the day: number of dogs/number of cats = 5x/3x (x is a positive integer)

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = (5x-2)/3x

Depending on particular values of x, we will get different ratios. For example:
x = 1 --> dogs/cats = 3/3
x = 2 --> dogs/cats = 8/6
Inconsistent answer => Insufficient statement

ELIMINATE (A) and (D). KEEP (B), (C) and (E)

(2) The store sold 1/3 of its cats that day.

--> The number of cats sold: (1/3)3x = x
--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = 5x/(3x-x) = 5x/2x = 5/2
For whatever values of x, we always get sufficient answers => Sufficient statement

(B) IS CORRECT!
Hi.
In statement 2 there is no information regarding number of dogs sold... So B is insufficient.
I think E should be answer.
Correct me if I am wrong.

Hi,

IMHO, your doubt could be justified to some extend. I will be inclined towards your line of thoughts IF the statement is written this way "2 dogs are sold that day". Reading that sentence, I will definitely question - how about cats? Is there any cat sold?

However, if the statement says "The store sold 2 dogs and no cats that day", I'll find the added "and no cats" unnecessary. That's why even when I reread the question, I still choose to think the same way as I did in my previous post.

Having said that, I think we shouldn't worry about this much because this question doesn't seems to be a GMAT-like one. Unless you are totally fresh in GMAT and have just practiced very few official question, you may agree with me that you've never ever faced the same issue, right?

Just my personal sharing. Hope this helps.
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Lucy Phuong
At the beginning of the day: number of dogs/number of cats = 5x/3x (x is a positive integer)

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = (5x-2)/3x

Depending on particular values of x, we will get different ratios. For example:
x = 1 --> dogs/cats = 3/3
x = 2 --> dogs/cats = 8/6
Inconsistent answer => Insufficient statement

ELIMINATE (A) and (D). KEEP (B), (C) and (E)

(2) The store sold 1/3 of its cats that day.

--> The number of cats sold: (1/3)3x = x
--> At the end of the day: dogs/cats = 5x/(3x-x) = 5x/2x = 5/2
For whatever values of x, we always get sufficient answers => Sufficient statement

(B) IS CORRECT!

Lucy first of All statement B only tells us about cats and no other information about dogs so yes this information is incomplete
Taking together two statements, one cant find the right answer why? because everything depends on the value of x and when x changes, the value of ratio changes
we have 5x/3x initially
statement 1 says that 2 dogs were sold so 5x will become 5x-2
statement 2 says 1/3 cats were sold so we can write this as 1/3(3x) = x
now combine the above two and u will get 5x-2/x-----> whenever u will change the value of x, you will get a new ratio
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sananoor
Lucy first of All statement B only tells us about cats and no other information about dogs so yes this information is incomplete
Taking together two statements, one cant find the right answer why? because everything depends on the value of x and when x changes, the value of ratio changes
we have 5x/3x initially
statement 1 says that 2 dogs were sold so 5x will become 5x-2
statement 2 says 1/3 cats were sold so we can write this as 1/3(3x) = x
now combine the above two and u will get 5x-2/x-----> whenever u will change the value of x, you will get a new ratio

Hi saranoor,

Thanks for your response.

As I said in my latest post, I understand why (E) could be the answer. The key point leading to different answers lies on different ways of interpretation of the provided statements. If the statement is written the other way as I suggested above, I will definitely mark choice (E). Please read my previous post responding to another one for more information. Thanks.

It's all about my personal thought. I could be right, I could be wrong also. At the end of the day, this question is, to me, not like a GMAT question, and as expert GMATNinja advised, let's spend our precious time discussing official questions instead.

If OA is E, I will take the experience and move on.

p/s: I remember we talked on chat box yesterday... thanks for your interesting questions... will join again when I have time :)
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Hi pranayeekarmakar,

When posting Quant and Verbal questions, you should make sure to post them in the proper sub-forum. For example, the DS sub-forum can be found here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/data-sufficiency-ds-141/

Here's a hint so that you can reattempt this question on your own: based on the given information, the STARTING ratio of dogs to cats was 5:3. This means that the initial number of dogs MUST be a multiple of 5 and the initial number of cats MUST be an equivalent multiple of 3. For example:

5 dogs and 3 cats
10 dogs and 6 cats
15 dogs and 9 cats
Etc.

Based on the information in the two Facts, with the answer to this question change based on the starting number of animals, or will it stay the same?

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pranayeekarmakar
At the beginning of the day, a pet store had dogs and cats in the ratio of 5 to 3. If no new animals were added to the store and the only animals that left were those that were sold, what was the ratio of dogs to cats at the end of the day?

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

(2) The store sold \(\frac{1}{3}\) of its cats that day.

Hi pranayeekarmakar

From the question stem, we are able to figure out that for every 5x dogs, we will have 3x cats.

1. This statement has no information about the cats. A total of 2 dogs are sold (Insufficient)

2. This statement has no information about the dogs We are told that \(\frac{1}{3}\)rd of the dogs are sold.
In the end, we would be left have \(\frac{2}{3}*3x = 2x\) dogs. (Insufficient)

When we combine the information present in both the statements, we can't arrive at a
unique ratio of the cats and dogs at the end of the day(after the cats and dogs are sold
because we don't know the initial number of cats and dogs in the store (Insufficient - Option E)


P.S Have moved your question to the appropriate forum.
These are the RULES which you need to follow while posting questions.
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pranayeekarmakar
At the beginning of the day, a pet store had dogs and cats in the ratio of 5 to 3. If no new animals were added to the store and the only animals that left were those that were sold, what was the ratio of dogs to cats at the end of the day?

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

(2) The store sold \(\frac{1}{3}\) of its cats that day.

Merging topics.

Please follow the rules when posting a question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/rules-for-po ... 33935.html Thank you.
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Bunuel
At the beginning of the day, a pet store had dogs and cats in the ratio of 5 to 3. If no new animals were added to the store and the only animals that left were those that were sold, what was the ratio of dogs to cats at the end of the day?

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

(2) The store sold 1/3 of its cats that day.


We are looking at a ratio. So it could be any numbers in that ratio.
For getting new ratio, most of the time it requires some numeric value to it.


Let's see the statements

1) store sold 2 dogs that day.
But we do not the numeric values of dog and cat
Insuff
2)store sold 1/3 cats.
Again no numeric value
Insufficient

Combined..
Nothing much on NUMERIC value..
Ratio is 5x-2:2x....
Insuff

E

The problem with (2) is not that it does not give a numerical value, remember that it is a ratio, the problem is that it does not give you any info about the dogs, if dogs were to remain constant this statement would be sufficient...
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brunel chetan2u

Hi Brunel,

As per the second statement, 1/3 of the cats were sold. So remaining cats should be 2/3. Now it is given that number of cats were 3x. So 2x cats remained at the end of the days. And since no dogs were sold, So dogs should be 5x.

So the ratio should be 5x:2x. Sufficient.

Please let me know where I am going wrong.
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brunel chetan2u

Hi Brunel,

As per the second statement, 1/3 of the cats were sold. So remaining cats should be 2/3. Now it is given that number of cats were 3x. So 2x cats remained at the end of the days. And since no dogs were sold, So dogs should be 5x.

So the ratio should be 5x:2x. Sufficient.

Please let me know where I am going wrong.

We do not know anything about number of dogs sold..
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Bunuel
At the beginning of the day, a pet store had dogs and cats in the ratio of 5 to 3. If no new animals were added to the store and the only animals that left were those that were sold, what was the ratio of dogs to cats at the end of the day?

(1) The store sold 2 dogs that day.

(2) The store sold 1/3 of its cats that day.
Good question! Got me on my first try as fast read through the second option. On rereading, caught the obvious mistake of assuming what was not given.

Dogs/Cats = 5/3 => Let dogs be 5x and cats be 3x

Statement 1 - Remaining dogs = 5x - 2.

Don't know anything about the cats so this statement is insufficient.

Statement 2 - Remaining cats = x

Made the mistake of assuming that no dogs were sold and hence the new ratio will be 5x/x = 5.

But we don't know anything about dogs and shouldn't be carried away by seeing an option which gives a fraction and the question which asks a fraction :)

So, this statement is also insufficient.

Combining both these statements -

New ratio = 5x-2/x => Cannot get an accurate value, so this information is also insufficient.

Answer: E
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