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shyind
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 11 Nov 2015, 01:41
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothers and sisters are there in Mrs. Smith’s family?

(1) Ms. Anna has the same number of brothers and sisters.

(2) Mr. Mathew has twice as many sisters as brothers.
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C
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chetan2u
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 11 Nov 2015, 02:42
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shyind
If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothers and sisters are there in Mrs. Smith’s family?

(1) Ms. Anna has the same number of brothers and sisters.

(2) Mr. Mathew has twice as many sisters as brothers.
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1) It gives us the number of brothers and sisters of Anna same or say b=s.. nothing on number..insuff
2) it gives us mathews brothers and sis ratio.. insuff
but lets see the eq in terms of b and s..
mathews bro=b-1; sis=s+1...
s+1=2(b-1)

combined we have two eq and two variable so suff..
s+1=2(b-1)...
b=s..
so b+1=2(b-1)
b+1=2b-2... or b=3...
s=3..
therefore there are 4 sisters and 3 brothers..
C
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 22 Dec 2016, 01:10
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Hi Chetan,

Can you explain how you arrived at the equation for mathews bros and siss' as s+1 = 2(b-1).

Thanks
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 22 Dec 2016, 02:53
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tyagamagus
Hi Chetan,

Can you explain how you arrived at the equation for mathews bros and siss' as s+1 = 2(b-1).

Thanks
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Hi,
The first sentence says Anna has same number of sis and bro, so the boys are one less than girls, as girls increase by one when Anna is also counted.
So s=b+1
So if we convert this info in terms of Mathews bro and sis...
Mathews brother are b-1, as Mathew himself is part of total b..
And sister is s..
As per statement ll, s=2(b-1)..... s=2b-2
Substitute s=b+1 in it..
b+1=2b-2...or b=3 And s =3+1=4..
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 22 Dec 2016, 03:44
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Thanks a ton for the explanation Chetan. Cheers!
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 25 May 2017, 07:38
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From Statement (1) alone, we have that Ms. Anna has the same number of brothers as sisters. If m is the number of male children Mrs. Smith has (so Anna has this many brothers), then she must have m sisters also. Hence, including Ms. Anna, Mrs. Smith must have m + 1 female children. Now, the number of children Mrs. Smith has equals m + (m + 1) = 2m + 1. But, we still do not know the value of m. Hence, Statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
From Statement (2) alone, we have that Mr. Mathew has twice as many sisters as brothers. Hence, if Mathew has, say, m – 1 brothers, then he must have 2(m – 1) sisters. Hence, the total number of children of Mrs. Smith equals m – 1 brothers of Mathew + 1 (Mathew himself) + 2(m – 1) sisters = m + 2(m – 1) = 3m – 2. Since we do not know the value m, Statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
Equating the number of children from both statements yields 2m + 1 = 3m – 2. Solving this equation for m yields m = 3. Hence, the number of children of Mrs. Smith is 2m + 1 = 2  3 + 1 = 7. Hence, the statements together answer the question.
The answer is (C).
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 25 May 2017, 16:03
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shyind
If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothers and sisters are there in Mrs. Smith’s family?

(1) Ms. Anna has the same number of brothers and sisters.

(2) Mr. Mathew has twice as many sisters as brothers.
Show more

My following approach is obviously incorrect - I am very happy to get your thoughts:

(1) Mr. Mathew is Anna's brother. If Anna has the same number of brothers and sisters, she has one more sister. Thus, 3 children all in all. SUFF
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 27 Mar 2019, 05:46
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Hi chetan2u,

If in this calculation :

combined we have two eq and two variable so suff..
s+1=2(b-1)...
b=s..
so b+1=2(b-1)
b+1=2b-2... or b=3...
s=3..
therefore there are 4 sisters and 3 brothers.


from this we get s=3 and b=3. so shouldnt the total be 6 siblings?






chetan2u
shyind
If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothers and sisters are there in Mrs. Smith’s family?

(1) Ms. Anna has the same number of brothers and sisters.

(2) Mr. Mathew has twice as many sisters as brothers.

1) It gives us the number of brothers and sisters of Anna same or say b=s.. nothing on number..insuff
2) it gives us mathews brothers and sis ratio.. insuff
but lets see the eq in terms of b and s..
mathews bro=b-1; sis=s+1...
s+1=2(b-1)

combined we have two eq and two variable so suff..
s+1=2(b-1)...
b=s..
so b+1=2(b-1)
b+1=2b-2... or b=3...
s=3..
therefore there are 4 sisters and 3 brothers..
C
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 27 Mar 2019, 05:56
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ajtmatch
Hi chetan2u,

If in this calculation :

combined we have two eq and two variable so suff..
s+1=2(b-1)...
b=s..
so b+1=2(b-1)
b+1=2b-2... or b=3...
s=3..
therefore there are 4 sisters and 3 brothers.


from this we get s=3 and b=3. so shouldnt the total be 6 siblings?






chetan2u
shyind
If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothers and sisters are there in Mrs. Smith’s family?

(1) Ms. Anna has the same number of brothers and sisters.

(2) Mr. Mathew has twice as many sisters as brothers.

1) It gives us the number of brothers and sisters of Anna same or say b=s.. nothing on number..insuff
2) it gives us mathews brothers and sis ratio.. insuff
but lets see the eq in terms of b and s..
mathews bro=b-1; sis=s+1...
s+1=2(b-1)

combined we have two eq and two variable so suff..
s+1=2(b-1)...
b=s..
so b+1=2(b-1)
b+1=2b-2... or b=3...
s=3..
therefore there are 4 sisters and 3 brothers..
C
Show more


HI,

We have taken the sisters of Ms Anna to be s, and we get s=b=3. Now, this s does not consider Ms Anna as a part of it.
But we are looking for total sisters and brother in the family, so now we have to include Ms Anna., so 3+1 sisters.
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 16 Jun 2021, 08:02
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They both could have siblings on their respective father's side, so neither is sufficient. We only know they have the same mom.
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If Ms. Anna and Mr. Mathew are children of Mrs. Smith, how many brothe 29 Jun 2024, 08:56
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