Bob purchased 18 cans of soda, some of which contained diet soda. How

Question

Bob purchased 18 cans of soda, some of which contained diet soda. How many of the cans did not contain diet soda?

(1) Of the cans Bob purchased, the number containing diet soda is equal to the number not containing diet soda.
(2) Of the cans Bob purchased, the number containing diet soda is odd

BrentGMATPrepNow · Answer

Target question :    How many of the cans did  NOT  contain diet soda?

Given : Bob purchased 18 cans of soda

Statement 1 : Of the cans Bob purchased, the number  containing  diet soda is  equal  to the number  not containing  diet soda.   
So, of the 18 cans of soda, 9 cans contained diet soda, and  9 cans did NOT contain diet soda 
Since we can answer the  target question  with certainty, statement 1 is SUFFICIENT

Statement 2 : Of the cans Bob purchased, the number containing diet soda is odd  
There are several scenarios that satisfy statement 2. Here are two: 
Case a: Bob purchased 3 (odd) cans containing diet soda and  15 cans NOT containing diet soda . 
Case b: Bob purchased 5 (odd) cans containing diet soda and  13 cans NOT containing diet soda .
Since we cannot answer the  target question  with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer: A

Cheers,
Brent

Blizzles · Answer

What made me hesitate? I was looking for/asking myself if there was a trick to statement (i) specifically, I wondered if there could be an e.g. that was neither soda nor diet soda which would make information provided in (i) insufficient. This thinking cost me a little time.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi All,

The wording of this question is a bit 'quirky', but the math behind it is just basic Arithmetic. We're told that there are 18 cans of soda and that some of the cans contain diet soda. In basic terms, this means: 
(# of Diet Cans) + (# of Non-Diet Cans) = 18

We're asked for the number of Non-Diet Cans.

1) Of the cans Bob purchased, the number containing diet soda is equal to the number not containing diet soda.

With this Fact, we know that there are the SAME number of each soda, so since there are 18 total cans, then there must be 9 of each. 
Fact 1 is SUFFICIENT

2) Of the cans Bob purchased, the number containing diet soda is odd

Since there are 18 total cans, the number of Diet Cans could be 1, 3, 5, 7, etc., which means that the number of Non-Diet Cans could be 17, 15, 13, 11, etc. 
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT

Final Answer:  A

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, 
Rich

Bob purchased 18 cans of soda, some of which contained diet soda. How

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Bob purchased 18 cans of soda, some of which contained diet soda. How

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