The official solution is below.
This is an overlapping sets problem concerning two groups (students in either band or orchestra) and the overlap between them (students in both band and orchestra).
If the problem gave information about the students only in terms of percents, then a smart number to use for the total number of students would be 100. However, this problem gives an actual number of students (“there are 119 students in the band”) in addition to the percentages given. Therefore, we cannot assume that the total number of students is 100.
Instead, first do the problem in terms of percents. There are three types of students: those in band, those in orchestra, and those in both. 80% of the students are in only one group. Thus, 20% of the students are in both groups. 50% of the students are in the band only. We can use those two figures to determine the percentage of students left over: 100% - 20% - 50% = 30% of the students are in the orchestra only.
Great - so 30% of the students are in the orchestra only. But although 30 is an answer choice, watch out! The question doesn't ask for the percentage of students in the orchestra only, it asks for the number of students in the orchestra only. We must figure out how many students are in Music High School altogether.
The question tells us that 119 students are in the band. We know that 70% of the students are in the band: 50% in band only, plus 20% in both band and orchestra. If we let x be the total number of students, then 119 students are 70% of x, or 119 = .7x. Therefore, x = 119 / .7 = 170 students total.
The number of students in the orchestra only is 30% of 170, or .3 × 170 = 51.
The correct answer is B.
I'm in confusion in the below sentence. Can someone please elaborate?
"We know that 70% of the students are in the band: 50% in band only, plus 20% in both band and orchestra"