Check GMAT Club Decision Tracker for the Latest School Decision Releases https://gmatclub.com/AppTrack
GMAT Club

 It is currently 29 Mar 2017, 08:38

# LIVE NOW:

### GMAT Club Daily Prep

#### Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

# Events & Promotions

###### Events & Promotions in June
Open Detailed Calendar

# The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is

Author Message
TAGS:

### Hide Tags

Intern
Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 39
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 24 [1] , given: 29

The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is [#permalink]

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 13:09
1
KUDOS
1
This post was
BOOKMARKED
00:00

Difficulty:

5% (low)

Question Stats:

83% (01:39) correct 17% (00:33) wrong based on 144 sessions

### HideShow timer Statistics

The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is the length of the garden?

(1) The length of the garden is twice the width.
(2) The difference between the length and width of the garden is 60 feet.

[Reveal] Spoiler:
I agree that (1) is sufficient, but I don't think (2) is sufficient. (2) can be interpreted as l - w = 60 or w - l = 60. Solving the two equations (one of these two equations and 2w + 2l = 360) will yield different answers for the value of w and l.
[Reveal] Spoiler: OA
Intern
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
Posts: 41
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
GMAT 1: 740 Q49 V42
GPA: 3.29
WE: Engineering (Consulting)
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 13 [1] , given: 4

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 13:47
1
KUDOS
I usually assume length is greater than width. But, I guess width can be greater than the length unless stated otherwise. But in GMAT I am pretty sure that statement 1 and 2 can't lead to contradicting answers so l - w = 60 is what needs to be used.

Also the phrase difference between "a" and "b"
usually translates into "a" - "b".

Can someone else confirm this?
Retired Moderator
Joined: 02 Sep 2010
Posts: 804
Location: London
Followers: 108

Kudos [?]: 991 [1] , given: 25

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 15:10
1
KUDOS
The question is slightly badly worded.

Length & width are inter changable terms, there is no reason to believe that length is always greater than width. This is why the question seems to have a bit of ambiguity around it. You will not find such ambiguity on real GMAT questions
_________________
Intern
Joined: 18 Aug 2009
Posts: 41
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
GMAT 1: 740 Q49 V42
GPA: 3.29
WE: Engineering (Consulting)
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 13 [0], given: 4

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 13:15
niheil wrote:
I think the official answer is wrong. What do you think?

The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is the length of the garden?

(1) The length of the garden is twice the width.
(2) The difference between the length and width of the garden is 60 feet.

[Reveal] Spoiler:
I agree that (1) is sufficient, but I don't think (2) is sufficient. (2) can be interpreted as l - w = 60 or w - l = 60. Solving the two equations (one of these two equations and 2w + 2l = 360) will yield different answers for the value of w and l.

l - w = 60 is not the same as w - l = 60.

l - w = 60 is the same as w - l = -60
Intern
Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 39
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 24 [0], given: 29

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 13:34
I guess my question is does the phrase, "the difference between the length and width of the garden is 60 feet", only mean that l - w = 60 or can it also be interpreted to mean that w - l = 60?
Intern
Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 39
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 24 [0], given: 29

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 13:51
chaoswithin, I think that statements (1) and (2) of a Data Sufficiency question could lead to contradicting answers. I've never read anything that led me to believe otherwise.

My question is the same as chaoswithin's. Could someone please confirm?
Intern
Joined: 06 Oct 2010
Posts: 39
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 24 [0], given: 29

### Show Tags

09 Nov 2010, 21:38
Thanks for your input, shrouded1 and chaoswithin. However, this question was in the GMAT Quantitative Review book, which is composed of past GMAT questions.
Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 7256
Location: Pune, India
Followers: 2205

Kudos [?]: 14370 [0], given: 222

### Show Tags

11 Nov 2010, 12:43
niheil wrote:
Thanks for your input, shrouded1 and chaoswithin. However, this question was in the GMAT Quantitative Review book, which is composed of past GMAT questions.

A couple of things -
1. Difference between two numbers means absolute value of negation. Difference is always positive. If difference between a and b is 20, we cannot say which one of them is greater.
2. Length need not be greater than Width. Either side can be called the length.

It is rather unfortunate that the said question appears in an Official GMAT book. Official books have retired questions of GMAT. If it was active at some time, it must have been a long time back. The experimental questions and continual monitoring of statistics on correct/incorrect by user ability level get rid of a problem such as that quickly. The purpose of these questions is to separate candidates based on ability level, and if a problem includes an arbitrary definition then the statistical analysis will throw it out – GMAC watches those stats religiously.

Finally, don't worry about the solution of that question. Difference is always absolute value. In case there are different views on that, GMAC will not test you on it.
_________________

Karishma
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor
My Blog

Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for \$199

Veritas Prep Reviews

GMAT Tutor
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 1180
Followers: 428

Kudos [?]: 1559 [0], given: 4

### Show Tags

14 Nov 2010, 20:20
There's nothing wrong with the wording of the question. The 'length' of a rectangle is the measure of its longest side:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Length.html

The length is never smaller than the width.
_________________

GMAT Tutor in Toronto

If you are looking for online GMAT math tutoring, or if you are interested in buying my advanced Quant books and problem sets, please contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

Manager
Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Posts: 169
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 80 [0], given: 7

### Show Tags

15 Nov 2010, 19:53
chaoswithin wrote:
I usually assume length is greater than width. But, I guess width can be greater than the length unless stated otherwise. But in GMAT I am pretty sure that statement 1 and 2 can't lead to contradicting answers so l - w = 60 is what needs to be used.

Also the phrase difference between "a" and "b"
usually translates into "a" - "b".

Can someone else confirm this?

It is wrong to awesome that length is always larger than width. Also for me the wording "the difference between the length and the width" translates to L-W=60. I didn't find the wording to be ambiguous.
Manager
Joined: 01 Apr 2010
Posts: 165
Followers: 3

Kudos [?]: 16 [0], given: 6

### Show Tags

16 Nov 2010, 06:10
the 2nd statement is straight forward for me too... l-b= 60.
Intern
Joined: 15 Apr 2010
Posts: 49
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 28 [0], given: 11

### Show Tags

08 Nov 2012, 01:30
gettinit wrote:
chaoswithin wrote:
I usually assume length is greater than width. But, I guess width can be greater than the length unless stated otherwise. But in GMAT I am pretty sure that statement 1 and 2 can't lead to contradicting answers so l - w = 60 is what needs to be used.

Also the phrase difference between "a" and "b"
usually translates into "a" - "b".

Can someone else confirm this?

It is wrong to awesome that length is always larger than width. Also for me the wording "the difference between the length and the width" translates to L-W=60. I didn't find the wording to be ambiguous.

I too got wrong answer on this one because I always use |l - w| to be the difference between length and width. In GMAT, you CANNOT assume anything unless stated. I agree that this question is very badly worded, just like the Q55 in OG Quant Review 2nd edition (machine filled order BY 10:30 - full discussion here on-monday-morning-a-certain-machine-ran-continuously-at-a-57810.html)

Now if you don't see any ambiguity, consider this: this difference between 4 and 6 is 2, and the difference between 6 and 4 is 2 too. So, it's |6 - 4| = |4 - 6| = 2. On the number line, 4 is 2 units away from 6, and 6 is 2 units away from 4.

Therefore this question should be understood that |l - w| = 60. When considering statement 2, I don't (and shouldn't) care about statement 1.
Manager
Joined: 03 Jan 2015
Posts: 91
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 31 [0], given: 146

Re: The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is [#permalink]

### Show Tags

11 Feb 2016, 07:14
A perimeter can be defined by $$l + l + w + w$$ ---> $$2(l + w)$$
The perimeter of the rectangular garden is 30 feet. Therefore, $$2(l + w) = 360$$

(1) The length of the garden is twice the width.
$$l = 2w$$. ---> $$2(2w + w) = 360$$. Sufficient.

(2) The difference between the length and width of the garden is 60 feet.
$$l - w = 60$$ ---> $$l = 60 + w$$ ---> $$2(60 + w + w) = 360$$. Sufficient

Both statements are sufficient.
Re: The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is   [#permalink] 11 Feb 2016, 07:14
Similar topics Replies Last post
Similar
Topics:
What is the length in meters of a certain rectangular garden? 1 14 Apr 2015, 14:50
2 What is the area of a rectangular surface that has length x feet and w 3 18 Dec 2014, 06:59
2 A rectangular garden that is 10 feet long and 5 feet wide is to be cov 3 09 Dec 2014, 15:49
5 The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 feet. What is t 15 26 Jan 2014, 10:46
The perimeter of a rectangular garden is 360 ft. What is the 5 31 Mar 2010, 16:31
Display posts from previous: Sort by