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why not fish?
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The question says "must be a part of her purchase". She could have bought Fish or Salmon from the cooking section since both are priced equally. So it may or may not be a part of the set she bought.
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can someone explain this question?
why eels yes, isn't it the most expensive?
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Lauren wants to assemble a collection of books with fish-themed titles by shopping at her local bookstore. On the bookstore's website, she searched for the keyword fish. The search returned only the results shown in the table. From the copies in stock included in the search results, Lauren purchased a set of books consisting of 5 books with distinct titles from 4 different sections. The total price she paid was the lowest possible for such a set of books.
TitleAuthorFormatSectionCopies in stockPrice ($)
Curious George
at the Aquarium
Rey, Margaretused hardcoverchildren's13.99
Curious George
Goes Fishing
Rey, A.new hardcoverchildren's32.98
EetsProsek, Jamesnew hardcoverscience125.99
FishBitbnan, Markused hardcovercooking211
FishBatman, Marknew paperbackcooking49.98
Float-fishing
Strategies
Streeks, E. Nealenew paperbackoutdoors019.95
SalmonMorgan, Dianenew paperbackcooking29.98
Saving Fish
from Drowning
Tan, Amyused paperbackliterature62.63
Saving Fish
from Drowning
Tan, Amynew paperback literature17.98
(Sort ↕ the table by clicking on the headers)

For each of the following titles, select Yes if it must have been a part of Lauren's purchase. Otherwise, select No.
It is a pretty straightforward question. But almost 57% going wrong means that if we are not careful while reading, an easy question can easily be made into a nightmare.

Lauren can choose the books from any 4 of the five sections. Such equation would never satisfy a MUST include question as it could be any four.
But the restrictions further are that they have to be lowest priced and one of the sections ‘outdoors’ does not have any copy for sale.

Thus, one book from each of the remaining sections is a must.

Now let us see options.

Float fishing strategies: It is surely a NO as there are no copies. NO
Fish: The book Fish, which is lower priced is at the same price from same section ‘cooking’. So it could be Fish or Salmon. NO
Eels: This is the only book in the section. So whatever be the price, it has to be picked up. YES­
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parkhydel
Lauren wants to assemble a collection of books with fish-themed titles by shopping at her local bookstore. On the bookstore's website, she searched for the keyword fish. The search returned only the results shown in the table. From the copies in stock included in the search results, Lauren purchased a set of books consisting of 5 books with distinct titles from 4 different sections. The total price she paid was the lowest possible for such a set of books.

For each of the following titles, select Yes if it must have been a part of Lauren's purchase. Otherwise, select No.
­

First step: Since price required is lowest, sort them in the ascending order of price.
Now, she picks 5 books with distinct titles from 4 different sections. Simply go from top to bottom.
Attachment:
Screenshot 2024-04-09 at 10.33.23 AM.png
Screenshot 2024-04-09 at 10.33.23 AM.png [ 180.15 KiB | Viewed 24358 times ]

She picks, first, second and third (even if both are children's since she has to pick 5 out of 4 sections so she has to pick two books from the same section)
She cannot pick 4th because it is literature again. From cooking, she has two options equally priced (Fish and Salmon).
Outdoors has 0 copies so she must pick the science book as the 5th book.

ANSWER
Float fishing strategies - NO

Fish - NO (May or may not be picked so "must be a part" is answered as No)
Eels - YES



­
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­ 5 books with distinct titles from 4 different sections

There are 5 sections: children, science, cooking, outdoors, and literature
However, there are 0 copies available fro outdoors.
=> Only 4 left: children, science, cooking, and literature

The total price she paid was the lowest possible for such a set of books.
=> Choose the cheapest of each section

1. Children => Curious George Fishing ($2.98)
2. Cooking => (i) Salmon or (ii) Fish ($9.98)
3. Literature => Saving Drowning (used) ($2.63)
4. Science => Eets (the only 1 availabe)


Float-fishing Strategies => No
Fish => No (Lauren can choose either Salmon or Fish => Fish is NOT a must)
Eels => Yes­
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I'm confused with "5 books with distinct titles", because doesn't that mean that each book must have it's own "distinct" name, so it can't have the same name as another book? therefore fish must be one of the books that Lauren purchases.
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It would mean that she would not buy 2 copies of the same book. There are 2 copies of the same book (one is a softcover and the other one is a hardcover).

Because Fish costs the same as book named Salmon, it may or may not have been one that was purchased.
squishyjelly
I'm confused with "5 books with distinct titles", because doesn't that mean that each book must have it's own "distinct" name, so it can't have the same name as another book? therefore fish must be one of the books that Lauren purchases.
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That makes sense to me -- but doesn't the wording also potentially imply the way that I thought about the problem? Any advice on making sure that I'm understanding the problem the way I'm meant to?
bb
It would mean that she would not buy 2 copies of the same book. There are 2 copies of the same book (one is a softcover and the other one is a hardcover).

Because Fish costs the same as book named Salmon, it may or may not have been one that was purchased.
squishyjelly
I'm confused with "5 books with distinct titles", because doesn't that mean that each book must have it's own "distinct" name, so it can't have the same name as another book? therefore fish must be one of the books that Lauren purchases.
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That makes sense to me -- but doesn't the wording also potentially imply the way that I thought about the problem? Any advice on making sure that I'm understanding the problem the way I'm meant to?
bb
It would mean that she would not buy 2 copies of the same book. There are 2 copies of the same book (one is a softcover and the other one is a hardcover).

Because Fish costs the same as book named Salmon, it may or may not have been one that was purchased.
squishyjelly
I'm confused with "5 books with distinct titles", because doesn't that mean that each book must have it's own "distinct" name, so it can't have the same name as another book? therefore fish must be one of the books that Lauren purchases.
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Given Conditions:

Lauren bought 5 books ->
(1) From the books actually available (in stock)
(2) Distinct titles
(3) 4 different sections
(4) Lowest possible price

Analysis:

-> Section "outdoors" has only 1 book in the search result and 0 stocks available. So, Lauren could not have bought a book from this section.

-> So, the 4 different sections are: children's, science, cooking, literature.

-> Lauren would have purchased the one book that was cheapest in each of the above sections. 4 Books!

(1) Curious George Goes Fishing (Children's). $2.98
(2) Eels (Science). $25.99 (only book)
(3) Either "Fish" ($9.98) OR "Salmon ($9.98).
(4) Saving Fish From Drowning ($2.63 version, not the other).

-> Lauren purchased one more book from one of the 4 sections. She maintained lowest possible price. Hence, the fifth book has to be cheapest next available book in these 4 sections.

(5) Curious George at the Aquarium ($3.99)

Choice Analysis:
(1) Float-fishing Strategies - No. No book from "outdoors" was purchased.
(2) Fish - No. We know for sure that one book from the category "cooking" was purchased. And we know this book would have been the cheapest available.
But this can mean "Fish ($9.98) or Salmon ($9.98). We cannot be 100% sure that "Fish" was purchased.
(3) Eels - Yes. Definitely purchased.

Hope this helps.
Harsha
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How are people able to do these kind of questions in under 2.3 mins ? 🤔
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ShilpiAgnihotrii
How are people able to do these kind of questions in under 2.3 mins ? 🤔

Here is a tip - scan the numerical value column(s) of the table for a 0. That can be a big help. Basically take 10 seconds to look at the data and whether there are any features that pop out.
Here, if you notice at the outset that Outdoors has only 1 book and there are no copies of that available, how long does it take to solve this question? Not long, I would guess.
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In another official question, the last part of the questions is modified as the average cost of her purchase is greater than $12 instead of the cost of her purchase is lowest.

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Aabhash777
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In another official question, the last part of the questions is modified as the average cost of her purchase is greater than $12 instead of the cost of her purchase is lowest.

That question is discussed here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/lauren-wants ... 37036.html
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