12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition 2025 - Day 6: "Sweetness" is

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Bunuel

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22 Dec 2025, 10:00

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GMAT Club Official Explanation:

"Sweetness" is defined as sugar content per unit of weight. At a fruit stand, mangoes are sweeter than apples, and apples are sweeter than lemons. A fruit salad is made using equal weights of exactly two of these fruits and no other ingredients. Does the fruit salad contain mango?

Given: mangoes > apples > lemons.

(1) The fruit salad is less sweet than apples.

This means the salad cannot be made of mangoes and apples, since that salad would be sweeter than apples. However, the salad could be made of apples and lemons, or it could be made of mangoes and lemons. So the salad may or may not contain mango. Not sufficient.

(2) The fruit salad is sweeter than a fruit salad made using equal weights of apples and lemons and no other ingredients.

Among the three possible equal-weight salads, the apples and lemons salad has the lowest sweetness. If the fruit salad is sweeter than that, it cannot be apples and lemons. The remaining options are mangoes and apples or mangoes and lemons, and both contain mango. Sufficient.

Answer: B.

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22 Dec 2025, 09:37

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Let the sweetness be L, A, M for lemon, apple and mango
L < A < M

Possible combinations and sweetness
1. L+A, (L+A)/2
2. A+M, (A+M)/2
3. L+M, (L+M)/2

Is there any Mango?

S1
Salad Sweetness < A
Can:
1 < A Yes
2 < A No
3< A May be (depends on exact value of L,M,A)
Insufficient

S2
Let A+L/2 be x
Can:
1 > x No, its same
2 > x Yes
3> x Yes
Sufficient

Answer B

Bunuel

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22 Dec 2025, 09:45

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Sweetness = Sugar content / weight

Mangoes > Apples > Lemons (Sweetness)

A fruit salad is made using equal weights of exactly 2 of these fruits and no other ingredients.

Does the fruit salad contain mango ?

(1) The fruit salad is less sweet than apples.
Then fruit salad consists of apples & lemons and no mango.
Sufficient

(2) The fruit salad is sweeter than a fruit salad made using equal weights of apples and lemons and no other ingredients.
Case 1: The fruit salad consists of Mangoes + Apples
Case 2: The fruit salad consists of Mangoes + Lemons
The fruit salad contains mango in both the cases
Sufficient

IMO D

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22 Dec 2025, 09:46

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Bunuel

using s1)
only two combos are possible - ML and AL

in one M is there in one M is not, hence not enough alone.

using s2)
only two combos are possoble - AL and MA

for same reaons this is not also enough alone.

using both we get
AL , so M is not here'

hence answer is C, both statment required

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Bunuel

Mango>Apple>Lemon
Possible Pairs: M+A; M+L; A+L

STATEMENT 1:
• M+A=Avg. sweetness greater than apple. (not possible)
• M+L=Avg. sweetness could be greater or less than apple.
• A+L= Avg. sweetness definitely less than apple.
Mango, not included - SUFFICIENT.

STATEMENT 2:
M+A = Sweeter
M+L= Sweeter
L+A = Equal, not sweeter.
Mango, not included - SUFFICIENT.

Hence, OPTION D.

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22 Dec 2025, 10:03

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"Sweetness" is defined as sugar content per unit of weight. At a fruit stand, mangoes are sweeter than apples, and apples are sweeter than lemons. A fruit salad is made using equal weights of exactly two of these fruits and no other ingredients. Does the fruit salad contain mango?

(1) The fruit salad is less sweet than apples.

(2) The fruit salad is sweeter than a fruit salad made using equal weights of apples and lemons and no other ingredients.

sweetness is sugar content per unit of weight..
sweetness of
M>A>L

determine if mango is present in fruit salad , if its made using exactly 2 of these fruits

#1
fruit salad is less sweet than apples
possible combination
A+L ( L weight is more than A) ; M+L ( L weight is more than M)
insuffcient

#2
fruit salad is sweeter than one made using equal weights used of A & L ...
M+A or M+L both have mango; sufficient

OPTION B is correct

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It is given that M > A > L in sweetness.
Salad is made using exactly 02 fruits of equal weight

1. Salad is less sweet than Apples
M + A will be sweeter than A
M + L can be or cannot be sweeter than A
A + L will not be sweeter than A.

Second equation creates doubt. Hence, the salad less sweet than Apple can be of either M + L or A + L.
Statement (1) alone is not sufficient.

2. Sweeter than A + L
Since we are using equal weights only, there must be a fruits sweeter than A and L in the salad. Therefore, Mango has definitely been used.
Hence, Statement (2) alone is sufficient to answer.

Option B

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Possible salads : M+A or M+L or A+L
M>A>L sweetness levels

(1) Fruit salad is less sweet than apples
M+A....No because it will be certainly sweeter than Apple alone
M+L.....possible but we don’t know the exact sweetness levels of lemon or mango......Maybe
A+L possible
insufficient

(2) salad is sweeter than A+L.
Then the salad certainly includes Mango. It could be M+A or M+L
Sufficient

B

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22 Dec 2025, 10:44

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Statement 1 have two possibilities firat Apple & Lemon second is Mango & lemon as in case of difference between sweetness of Mango & Apple is less then lemon can reduce the combined sweetness below the mango.

Statement 2 Since fruit salad is sweeter than fruit salad made using equal weights of apples & lemons then one ingredient would be sweeter than both & i.e. Mango.

Hence Answer B.

Bunuel

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i think the option b us correct because it says fruit salad is sweeter than fruitsalad made of lemons and apple. this will surely have mangoes included
whereas first statement says that the fruit salad is less sweeter than apple it can be a possibility that the fruit salad can/cannot have mango based on proportion of sweetness of the fruits

hence option b is correct

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22 Dec 2025, 11:05

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So in Sweetness, M>A>L
statement 1 - Fruit salad less sweet than apples, thus fruit salad is made of equal wt of Lemon & Apples, so no mango ...Sufficient
statement 2 - Fruit salad is sweeter than fruit salad made using equal wt of apples and lemon so the fruit salad is either Mango+Lemon in equal wt or Mango+Apple in equal wt , so Fruit salad consists Mangoes, thus ...Sufficient

Option D

Bunuel

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22 Dec 2025, 11:13

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Given that sweetness of M, A and L representing fruits mango, apple and lemon are M>A>L

Statement 1 - sweetness less than apples can be formed when A is combined with L as the average would be between A and L but less than A. In this case, answer is no. If M is combined with L, depending on distribution of values between M, A and L, the sweetness can turn out to be less than A (like if M is 6, A is 4 and L is 1). In this case, answer to the question is yes. Since we do not have a unique solution, statement is insufficient

Statement 2 - if the fruit salad is sweeter than the mix of A and L, it can only be in combinations of M and L or M and A. In both cases, answer to the question is yes. The statement is sufficient.

Therefore, Option B

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22 Dec 2025, 11:14

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So, sweetness is proportional to sugar content. As all are mixed in equal proportion, so sugar content in each decides the sweetness.
For example, let M = 8, A=6, L=2 directly represents sugar each unit.

1. A+L = 8/2=4 < Apple....NO
M+L= 10/2 =5 < Apple..YES.....NOT SUFFICIENT

2. if sweeter than A+L, then to get value higher than M has to be present...SUFFICIENT

Ans B

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we can say that the sweetness of the salad is (sweetness of fruit 1 + sweetness of fruit 2 ) / 2

(1) not sufficient
salad < A
The salad could be made of apple and lemon or of mango and lemon, we can't say which because we don't know the relatives sweetness of mango and lemon.
For example is the levels are
M=10
A=8
L=2
salad of M&L = (10+2)/2 = 6
salad of A&L = (8+2)/2 = 5

(2) sufficient
salad > (A+L)/2
there are 3 possible options of salad: A&L, A&M, M&L.
this salad cannot be A&L because the sweetness would be EQUAL, not greater to the one of a salad of lemon and apples.
so there are 2 options left, but both contain mango.

Answer B. (2) alone is sufficient but (1) alone is not

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22 Dec 2025, 11:28

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M>A>L Supposing that 1 slice of any fruit weight the same, and taking sweetness of mangoes as 3 per slice (it could be gm/pound anything), apples as 2 & lemons as 1.

Essentially as we are mixing equal weights of excatly 2 fruits, the sweetness should be between the sweetness level of those 2 fruits (it's kinda like weighted average, which lies between the two values)

1) Suppose we are taking 3 slices of each fruit to make the fruit salad.
For sweetness to be less than apples, suppose we take 3 slices of apples, 3 slices of lemos, sweetnes would be
2*3 + 1*3 /6 = 1.5 (less than apples which has sweetness of 2), hence no mangoes

Lets see if we take 3 slices of mangoes & 3 slices of lemos what happens, Sweetness=
3*3 + 1*3/6 = 2 (which is equal to apple's sweetness)

Hence no mangoes are going to be there. Sufficient

2)the only way we can make it sweeter than a combo of apples & lemons is either by combining mangoes with lemons or mangoes with apples (You can also check if you want like above). Sufficient

Ans D

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22 Dec 2025, 11:29

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We need to determine if the salad contains Mango.

Let Mango be M, Apples be A and Lemons be L.
The relationsship between their sweetness is :
M > A > L.
When two fruits are combined in equal weights, the sweetness of the salad is the arithmetic mean (average) of the two fruits' sweetness values. There are three possible salad combinations.

Mango + Apple: (M+A)/2
Mango + Lemon (M+L)/2
Apple + Lemon: (A+L)/2

From Statement 1: The fruit salad is less sweet than apples.

We know M > A, so any salad containing Mango and Apple (M+A)/2) must be sweeter than A.
Therefore, if the salad is less sweet than A, it cannot be the Mango + Apple combo.
However, we have two other possibilities:
A. Apple + Lemon: (A+L)/2 is always less than A (Contains no Mango)
B. Mango + Lemon: (M+L)/2 can be less than A, equal to A, or more than A, depending on the specific values. (Contains Mango)

Since the salad could be (Apple + Lemon) or (Mango + Lemon), we cannot say for certain if it contains mango. Statement (1) is not Sufficient.

From Statement 2: The fruit salad is sweeter than a fruit salad made using equal weights of apples and lemons.
The Salad we are comparing it is (A + L)/2.
Comparing it with the three other possibilities:
i) A + L : Equal Sweetness. Cannot compare.
ii) M + L : Average sweetness is greater. Than (A + L)
iii) M + A: Average is greater than (A + L).
Both cases contains Mango.
Indicates Mango Must be present.

Hence answer is : B.

Bunuel

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22 Dec 2025, 11:44

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It is given that Sweetness = Sugar content/weight

Further Sweetness order is Mangos>Apple>Lemon

Fruit salad is prepared by taking exactly two of the 3 fruits.

So , three combinations are possible (mango,apple) , (mango,lemon) , (apple,lemon)

Let's take first statement ,

(1) It says sweetness of apples > fruit salad , which implies (mango,apple) combination is not possible. So we are left with other two combinations. Now (apple,lemon) is possible since lemon is bringing down the sweetness compared to apple. But let's look at another combination (mango , lemon).For this anything is possible and cannot and comment based on the information. There is one information is missing comparing sweetness of apple with these two combinations to make the choice. So , 1st statement is not sufficient.

(2) It says sweetness of fruit salad > (apples , lemons). So we are left with two combinations (mango,apple) and (mango,lemon). In any case mango will be present. So , statement 2 is sufficient.

So answer is B.

Bunuel

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22 Dec 2025, 11:44

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Bunuel

Sweetness = amount of sugar content / weight.

The sweetness comparison is given by : Mango > Apple > Lemons .

For creating a Fruit Salad, we need to mix exactly two ingredients only in equal weight.

Weight ratio is 1:1.

We need to find : Does the salad contain Mango ?

If we get an answer Yes or No, we can answer the question.

Statement 1:

The fruit salad is Less sweet than apples.

Suppose, we take the two ingredients are Apple and Lemons.

Combining this, we get a fruit salad , which is less sweeter than Apple.

So, we can say there is no Mango.

Alternate case: if we mix mango and lemon.

Since sweetness is a quantitative measure, and if the sweetness of apples is more closer towards the mango sweetness, and the lemon is far closer towards the lower extreme.

There are cases, where sweetness of salad is more than Apples.

So, does it contain Mango ? Yes.

We are getting a mixed answer. Hence, Insufficient.

Statement 2:

The fruit salad is sweeter than a fruit salad made using equal weights of apples and lemons and no other ingredients.

If a fruit salad is made by mixing Apples and Lemons, then the sweetness lies between sweetness of Apple and Lemon.

A fruit salad more sweeter than the earlier, should contain mango for the sweetness to increase beyond (apple + lemon).

Hence, Sufficient

Option B

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22 Dec 2025, 12:26

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Bunuel