A global technology firm is organizing an advanced coding competition

Question

A global technology firm is organizing an advanced coding competition for its employees. Each multi-member team in the competition has 'a' members and every employee is on exactly one team. In each round until the fifth, multiple matches occur in parallel, with each match consisting of six teams competing against each other. From each match, only two teams advance to the next round based on their project evaluations. In the sixth round, only the final two teams compete against each other for the prize.

No team is allowed to exit the competition except through elimination. The number of teams who participated in the first round of the competition was 'm'.

From the available options, select for 'm' the number of teams who participated in the first round, and select for 'an' the number of employees who participated in the third round. Make only two selections, one in each column.

MS05 · Answer

Each round (till the 5th) has matches of 6 teams, and 2 teams advance ⇒ in every round the number of teams becomes 1/3 of what it was.

After five such rounds, the sixth round has only 2 teams.

So, if m is the number of teams in Round-1,

m/3^5 = 2 ⇒ m=2 x 3^5 = 2 x 243 = 486

Number of teams that participate in Round-3:

n=m/3^2=486/9=54

Employees in Round-3 = team size a × teams in Round-3 n = an
As n = 54, an=ax54.

Since a team is “multi-member,” a≥2 and a is an integer.

The only multiple of 54 in the list with a≥2 is 54×9=486

Therefore,

m=486 teams in Round-1
 an=486 employees in Round-3

bhavyagmat · Answer

Questions needs better phrasing - until 5th round , excludes 5th ( balance text in question forces you to infer it is inclusive of 5th round.

Moreover - " with each match consisting of six teams competing against each other." - so 1 match with 6 teams - or 1 match = 6 teams playing each team once in a round robin? and then 2 teams emerging..( Chatgpt says that irrespective of which option u pick here - you get the same answer)

sarkarsarbani · Answer

Is this a very hard question?Does this type of qstn come in gmat exam?How much time is needed to solve such a difficult question

AmishaShah1234 · Answer

The question says, "  Each multi-member team" has 'a' members but does not specify that there are no single member teams..

egmat · Answer

Hi AmishaShah1234,

Great eye, and this is exactly the hinge that MS05's reasoning turns on. MS05 wrote  "Since a team is 'multi-member,' a ≥ 2"  - and your question is whether that step is safe. It is, and here's why.

The word "multi-member" is doing the work.  "Multi" means  more than one , so by definition  every  team in this competition has more than one member. A single-member team wouldn't be a  multi-member  team at all - the stem isn't describing one special kind of team, it's telling you what all the teams are like. On top of that, the stem says each team has  'a' members  - one shared value - so the teams are uniform, not a mix of sizes. That locks in  a ≥ 2 , with  a  an integer.

Why this matters for the AN column.  Teams in round  3  =  54 , so employees in round  3  =  54  × a. Now scan the options for a value equal to  54  × (integer ≥  2 ):

-  54  ×  1  =  54  - this is the trap you spotted, but it needs a =  1 , which "multi-member" forbids.
-  54  ×  9  =  486  - valid, with a =  9 .
-  81 ,  243 ,  384  aren't multiples of  54  at all.

Therefore , the "multi-member" wording is precisely what rules out  54  and leaves  486  as the only workable value for AN.

Flip the word to feel the trap:  if the stem had said "each  team  has  a  members" (dropping "multi-member"), then a =  1  would be allowed, and  54  would suddenly be a legitimate answer for AN. That one adjective is the whole difference - it's not decorative, it's a constraint.

Answer: Column 1 (M) = 486; Column 2 (AN) = 486

A global technology firm is organizing an advanced coding competition

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A global technology firm is organizing an advanced coding competition

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