In a certain lab, 60 percent of the researchers have advanced degrees

Question

In a certain lab, 60 percent of the researchers have advanced degrees, and 50 percent of the researchers are over 35 years old. If 75 percent of those over 35 years old have advanced degrees, how many of the employees under 35 have advanced degrees?

(1) The lab employs 80 people who do not have advanced degrees.

(2) Of employees holding advanced degrees, 30 percent hold M.D.s, 40 percent hold Ph.D.s, and the remainder hold master's degrees as their highest degree.

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dhart · Answer

( 60% employees with advanced degrees - 75% of 50% of emple are 35+ years with advanced degrees) = 22.5% people are 35- years with advanced degrees
1. there are ttl 80 employees ,so it can be counted
stmmt 2 doesnt give any nmbrs only talk in %tages, so cant be calcullted. option a

Koushik067 · Answer

option a is right answer

questioncracker · Answer

statement 1 gives us a number which can be utilized, hence sufficient. 
statement 2 is giving irrelevant information hence not sufficient. 
  Option A  is correct

MarkGMATMentor · Answer

As with many overlapping sets problems, it's helpful here to set up a table (or, alternatively, a Venn diagram).   However, because this is Data Sufficiency, you don't need to do any actual calculations.

Fill in the table with the given information, using 100 as your total since the numbers are given as percentages:
    
 under 35 
 over 35 
 total 
 
  adv degree 
  
 75% of 50% 
 60% 
 
  no adv degree

total 
  
 50% 
 100%

Since each row and column adds to its respective total, knowing 2 of the 3 quantities in any row or column allows you to find the remaining one. Through this process you'll be able to fill out the entire table with percentages. No need to actually do the calculations.

So, you know all the percentages, but the question asks  how many  employees under 35 have advanced degrees. You need to match one percentage with one actual number; then you'll be able to turn all the percentages into actual numbers.

Statement 1: 
This statement gives a concrete number for one of the squares in the table, so you'll be able to determine the actual numbers for all the rest.  Sufficient.

Statement 2: 
This statement provides another cut of the data in terms of the type of advanced degrees held by the researchers, but gives you no actual numbers to work with. The lab could have a relatively small number of researchers or a huge number of researchers.  Not sufficient.

The answer is A.

It's important to verify that you can calculate the percentages from the information given in the prompt. For example, if the prompt omitted any one of the three pieces of information it provides, you wouldn't be able to calculate all the percentages and the answer would be E.

As long as you know you CAN solve, you don't need to actually do the solving. This is broadly true for DS problems. You'll use many of the same tools that you use in Problem Solving, but just setting it up is often enough. This saves time and frustration on the Data Insights section.

In a certain lab, 60 percent of the researchers have advanced degrees

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	under 35	over 35	total
adv degree		75% of 50%	60%
no adv degree
total		50%	100%

GMAT Data Sufficiency (DS) Questions

­In a certain lab, 60 percent of the researchers have advanced degrees

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

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In a certain lab, 60 percent of the researchers have advanced degrees