I like this one. Its simple but its very easy to get the

Question

I like this one. Its simple but its very easy to get the wrong answer

Anne owes Bob $4, Bob owes Carol $3, and Carol owes Anne $5. If Carol settles all the debts by giving money to both Anne and Bob, how much will she give Anne?

a) $1
b) $2
c) $3
d) $4
e) $5

Please take no more than 60 seconds to solve this problem. Answer in 10 hours time

 :evil: 
Darth

kapslock · Answer

B $2.

C ----$5----->A.---------$4--------->B--------$3------->C
.................Keeps $1 ................Keeps $1.........Gets $3 back from $5.

Thus total loss = $2.

thearch · Answer

Probably I'm wrong, but from your reasoning follows that Carol gives Anne $5 and then gets back $3 from Bob. However, we're not interested in how much Carol gets from Bob. So, actually, Carol gives Anne $5.
I pick $5

kapslock · Answer

Pretty interesting line of thought TheArch

Let me then ask a pretty interesting question - according to the question, its Carol who gave money to settle all the debts - so two points 1. How does she pay to settle debt in which she ows money? (remember that Bob owes Carol $3) 2. Suppose she does, then the total payment is $12 (3+4+5). This is not even an option. Going back to my approach, we can have an interesting way of solving your question about ignoring whatever she gets back. How about the case when Carol gives $1 each to Anne and Bob and gives them the following explanations: Anne, you owed Bob $4. But I owed you $5. You were to gain $1. Take it and get out of the picture. Bob, you were to get $4 from Anne, but were to give me $3, in the process keeping $1 to yourself. Take this $1 and get out of the picture. Thus, she pays $2 and settles the debts.

thearch · Answer

I wanna be officially dubbed Devil's Advocate :lol:

Your reasoning leads me to another solution to this problem. reviewing the stem an important condition is that Carol gives money to both Anne and Bob . He gives 1$ to Anne and 1$ to Bob. (as you said) :idea:

Then he gives Anne only $1. :madd

Waiting for you reply to be contradicted :wink:

kapslock · Answer

An absolutely valid point theArch !!!

Reminds me all the time that I should read the questions carefully - so while I picked up the part about Carol paying to both, I neglected to realize the part about the question asking how much does Carol end up paying Anne.

You're right, by my logic it should be $1 only.

Since Carol can proceed only in one way - paying both, it HAS to be $1 to Anne. The other way involves Carol paying $5 to one, and getting $3 back - and that doesn't satisfy the condition of Carol paying to both.

Oh btw I give you the official title of Devil's Advocate

HongHu · Answer

What do I have to say to you guys? You study for GMAT and stumbles about giving changes to each other. :shame:

C owes 5 and is owed 3 so needs to give 2.
A owes 4 and is owed 5 so needs to get 1.
B owes 3 and is owed 4 so needs to get 1.

What is so confusing about it?

(In other words of course thearch is correct and there is nothing devil about it.

)

(In other words of course thearch is correct and there is nothing devil about it.

)

kapslock · Answer

Guess you're right Hong - that's why I've not fixed a date for taking the GMAT - when I stumble even for change, its going to take me a while to collect $225 for GMAT:) And yes I am ashamed too

Now to answer your point - here's the question statement copy n pasted: Anne owes Bob $4, Bob owes Carol $3, and Carol owes Anne $5. If Carol settles all the debts by giving money to both Anne and Bob, how much will she give Anne? This was about some really finer nuances of the question. Like this 1. Carol settles all the debts. 2. Carol gives money to both Anne and Bob, and 3. How much would Carol give to Anne The answer is $1. Of course theArch is correct but he's correct for the answer $1 and not $5. Right theArch?

thearch · Answer

this is for kapslock :bebe

this for hong hu :pray

Darth_McDaddy · Answer

$1 is the correct answer. Thank you everyone for participating. As you can see... even though the problem is simple, you can very easily be misled. I really enjoyed the discussions for this question.

Thanks all for your effort.

:evil:

Darth

kwasi7 · Answer

and this one i believe will be for you :beat

I like this one. Its simple but its very easy to get the

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