Most of the cubicles in the north wing of the Acme Company headquarter

Question

Most of the cubicles in the north wing of the Acme Company headquarters are less than 20 meters from the nearest fire escape, whereas half of the cubicles in the east wing are not. In other words, those same east wing cubicles and  __1__  half the north wing cubicles are  __2__  twenty meters from the nearest fire escape.

Select for  1  and for  2  two options to create a sentence that most accurately restates the information given in the first sentence. Make only two selections, one in each column.

102072

guddo · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION: RECOGNIZE The phrase “those same east wing cubicles” refers to the half of the cubicles in the east wing that are NOT less than 20 meters from the nearest fire escape. Thus, these cubicles are greater than or equal to 20 meters from the nearest fire escape, or equivalently, these cubicles are at least 20 meters from the nearest fire escape. Therefore, select “at least” for the second blank. To determine the option for the first blank, we want a relation that describes the number of cubicles in the north wing that are at least 20 meters from the nearest fire escape. Since more than half of the cubicles in the north wing are less than 20 meters from the nearest fire escape, the remaining cubicles—less than half of the cubicles— are at least 20 meters from the nearest fire escape. Therefore, select “less than” for the first blank. RO1 The correct answer is less than . RO2 The correct answer is at least . GMAT-Club-Forum-gyli9xjb.png

Alice83 · Answer

IMO -

1. At most
2. Greater than

Most of the cubicles in the north wing are less than 20 meters from the nearest fire escape. This means that fewer than half are greater than or equal to 20 meters.

Half of the cubicles in the east wing are greater than or equal to 20 meters from the fire escape.

So, 
The sentence asks for words that describe the distance of the east wing cubicles and half the north wing cubicles from the fire escape

Therefore, 
Half of the north wing cubicles could be at most 20 meters away.
The east wing cubicles referred to are greater than 20 meters away.

ajaynandakumar7 · Answer

I guess 1-less than and 2-greater than since most of the north wing are nearer to the exit means more than half are near to the exit. So less than half would be farther from the exit and hence greater than(2) 20mts

crimson_king · Answer

The answer should be 1-less than & 2-at least since most of the north wing are nearer to the exit means more than half are less than 20 meters from the exit. So less than half would be greater than or equal to 20 meters and hence (2) at least 20 meters away

DanTheGMATMan · Answer

Very tricky answer choices. We know the sentence should refer to those less than 20 meters away, but that means they could be exactly 20 meters away or more, so we need to go with "at least" 20 meters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npy3G4cRMcQ

Mohak01 · Answer

For those requiring a more elaborate understanding for this question,

Lets assume some values,

North wing - 100 cubicles
East Wing - 200 cubicles
Distance from fire escape - F

Then as per statement - Most of the cubicles in the north wing of the Acme Company headquarters are less than 20 meters from the nearest fire escape, whereas half of the cubicles in the east wing are not.

N + (F<20) = 70
N + (F>=20) = 30 ..... (1)

Also
E + (F<20) = 100
E +(F>=20) =100 .....(1)

Coming to solution

In other words, those same east wing cubicles and __1__ half the north wing cubicles are __2__ twenty meters from the nearest fire escape.

For 1 - The cubicles in north wing is 30 i.e., less than half the north wing cubicles
For 2 - The cubicles are greater than or equal to 20 meters. Therefore an alternate word for this would be at least 20 m from Fire escape.

laborumexplicabo · Answer

Why can't it be "at least" then "less than"? Since 50% of the east wing cubicles are less than 20m from the fire exit (because half are not that means the other half are).

That means those same east wing cubicles and  at least  half the north wing cubicles (since it says most) are  less than  twenty meters from the nearest fire escape.

cheshire · Answer

When it says "those same east wing cubicles" I assume it's talking about the ones that are 20+ meters away from the exit as it would be grammatically incorrect to reference the other ones.

haianh · Answer

Most of the cubicles in the north wing of the Acme Company headquarters are less than 20 meters from the nearest fire escape, whereas half of the cubicles in the east wing are not. In other words, those same east wing cubicles and  __1__  half the north wing cubicles are  __2__  twenty meters from the nearest fire escape.

Summary:  
 
   \geq50  % of the north wing's cubicles are   <20m   from the nearest fire escape. 
    50 % of the east   wing's cubicles are  \geq 20m  from the nearest fire escape.

In other words,   that  50 % of the east   wing, together with   <    50 % of the north wing, are   \geq    20m  from nearest escape. 
1.  less than  ( < )
2.  at least  (  \geq  )

eaat · Answer

Why can't the first column be at most? What's the different between at most and less than? That it includes those that are equal to 20 m?

guddo · Answer

I think  the official explanation  already addresses this clearly. Have you had a chance to read it carefully? Have you reviewed the discussion above?

Most of the cubicles in the north wing of the Acme Company headquarter

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Most of the cubicles in the north wing of the Acme Company headquarter

Prep Toolkit

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My Rewards