The amount of coal a train burns each mile is directly proportional to the speed at which it travels. How much coal will it burn on this particular 60 mile trip?
(1) On a previous trip, the train burned 100 pounds of coal on a 60 mile trip at 60 mph
(2) On this particular trip, the train is traveling at a speed of 30mph



(isn't the second statement irrelevant? because once you know the value of the constant of fuel burned per speed (directly proportional to one another so it doesnt change in value), you know the distance, and since rate and time are inversely proportional to one another, doesn't the actual rate become unimportant? The book answer to this question was C, but I don't understand why its not A...)

To answer the question we require to know the value of 2 parameters
1. Speed of the train
2. Rate of consumption of the coal.

From Option(1) we can only get rate of consumption of the coal. Speed of the train is unknown. Hence INSUFFICIENT
From Option(2) We only have the speed of the train. rate of consumption of coal is Unkown. Again INSUFFICIENT

Combining (1) and(2) we clearly get both the parameters

Hope This Helps