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GMAT_700
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 06 Aug 2008, 18:44
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C
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Question Stats:

73% (02:23) correct 27% (02:15) wrong based on 181 sessions

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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well as the crew (sailors, a cook, and one-legged captain) to a nearby port. Altogether, these passengers have 15 heads and 41 legs. How many cats does the ship host?

A. 3
B. 5
C. 6
D. 7
E. 8
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C
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gmatnub
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 06 Aug 2008, 19:08
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Assuming that there are no 2 headed cats/sailors (like in recent news).

6 cats and 7 sailors

take out the captain and the cook, you have 13 heads and 38 legs

sailor + cat = 13 --> S = 13 -C

2 legs for each sailor and 4 legs for each cat.

2S + 4C = 38

2(13 - C) + 4C = 38
2C = 12
C = 6
S = 7
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 06 Aug 2008, 19:31
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GMAT_700
If you know how to solve the following question and you know how to explain your answer, please let me know. By the way, I already found some explanations for this question, but I did not understand their explanations.

A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well as the crew (sailors, a cook, and one-legged captain) to a nearby port. Altogether, these passengers have 15 heads and 41 legs. How many cats does the ship host?
a)3
b)5
c)6
d)7
e)8

The correct answer is 6.
Show more

Q + cats + Sailors + a cook + a captain = 15
1 + cats + Sailors + 1 + 1 = 15
cats + Sailors = 12

2Q + 4(cats) + 2(Sailors) + 2 (a cook) + a captain = 41
2 + 4(cats) + 2(Sailors) + 2 + 1 = 41
4(cats) + 2(Sailors) = 36
2(cats) + (cats) + (Sailors) + (cats) + (Sailors) = 36
2(cats) + 12 + 12 = 36
cats + = (36 - 24)/2 = 12

So Cats = 6
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 07 Aug 2008, 05:03
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Easier approach

head count...
cats + humans without captain = 14 (since only one captain is there)
let c= #of cats, h=#humans (non captain)

c+h=14

leg count.
4(c) + 2(h) = 40. Captain had only one leg
so 2c+h=20

solve to get c=6
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 07 Aug 2008, 07:31
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GMAT_700
If you know how to solve the following question and you know how to explain your answer, please let me know. By the way, I already found some explanations for this question, but I did not understand their explanations.

A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well as the crew (sailors, a cook, and one-legged captain) to a nearby port. Altogether, these passengers have 15 heads and 41 legs. How many cats does the ship host?
a)3
b)5
c)6
d)7
e)8

The correct answer is 6.
Show more

heads 1 (cook) 1(captain) x(sailors) y(cats)
legs 2 (cook) 1(captain) 2x(sailors) 4 y(cats)

1+1+x+y =15 (total heads)
2+1+2x+4y= 41

solve above y=6
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 07 Aug 2008, 17:48
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x2suresh
GMAT_700
If you know how to solve the following question and you know how to explain your answer, please let me know. By the way, I already found some explanations for this question, but I did not understand their explanations.

A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well as the crew (sailors, a cook, and one-legged captain) to a nearby port. Altogether, these passengers have 15 heads and 41 legs. How many cats does the ship host?
a)3
b)5
c)6
d)7
e)8

The correct answer is 6.

heads 1 (cook) 1(captain) x(sailors) y(cats)
legs 2 (cook) 1(captain) 2x(sailors) 4 y(cats)

1+1+x+y =15 (total heads)
2+1+2x+4y= 41

solve above y=6
Show more

solved and got the same
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 25 Dec 2014, 22:38
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Hi All,

The other explanations properly explain the algebra approach to this question, but the question can also be solved by TESTing THE ANSWERS.

**Note: the question probably means for us to assume that the cats each have 4 legs and each of the sailors and cook have 2 legs each**

We're told that there are 15 heads and 41 legs, so we're looking for an answer that makes THAT result happen.

Let's TEST...

Answer B: 5 cats

5 cats
1 captain
1 cook
8 sailors (because there are total heads)

5 cats = 20 legs
1 captain = 1 leg
1 cook = 2 legs
8 sailors = 16 legs
Total legs = 39 legs
This is TOO SMALL (there are supposed to be 41 legs).

Since we need 2 more legs, we can get that by replacing 1 sailor with 1 cat.

Answer C: 6 cats

6 cats = 24 legs
1 captain = 1 leg
1 cook = 2 legs
7 sailors = 14 legs
Total legs = 41 legs
This is a MATCH for what we're looking for, so this MUST be the answer!

Final Answer:
Show Spoiler
C

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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A luxury liner, Queen Marry II, is transporting several cats as well 10 Jun 2021, 07:23
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