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Sachin9
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Thanks for the explanation...
I was wondering how this can be solved as my solution was not matching with the answers....
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crazypriya
Thanks for the explanation...
I was wondering how this can be solved as my solution was not matching with the answers....
Dear Crazy Priya,

First of all, did you read my post about how the formatting is incorrect in the question slide, so that what appears as "263" really should be 26^3"? That's a big different.

If you understand what the answers are supposed to say, then
(1) the correct answer for State A is \((26^2)*(9^4)*23\)
(2) the correct answer for State B is \((26^2)*(9^4)\)
If that's what you got, your correct.
If you didn't get these answers, then one would get these using the Fundamental Counting Principle, explained in this blog article:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-quant-how-to-count/

If, after reading that blog, you still have questions, let me know, and I'll demonstrate a full solution for this problem.

Mike :-)
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crazypriya
Thanks for the explanation...
I was wondering how this can be solved as my solution was not matching with the answers....
Dear Crazy Priya,

First of all, did you read my post about how the formatting is incorrect in the question slide, so that what appears as "263" really should be 26^3"? That's a big different.

If you understand what the answers are supposed to say, then
(1) the correct answer for State A is (26^2)*(9^4)*23
(2) the correct answer for State B is (26^2)*(9^4)/26, which also can be written as 26*25*(9^4)
If that's what you got, your correct.
If you didn't get these answers, then one would get these using the Fundamental Counting Principle, explained in this blog article:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-quant-how-to-count/

If, after reading that blog, you still have questions, let me know, and I'll demonstrate a full solution for this problem.

Mike :-)

Hi Mike,

Yeah i understood your explanation...I was correct with my solution but just got confused with answer choices....bt nw I have understood it...
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mikemcgarry
crazypriya
Thanks for the explanation...
I was wondering how this can be solved as my solution was not matching with the answers....
Dear Crazy Priya,

First of all, did you read my post about how the formatting is incorrect in the question slide, so that what appears as "263" really should be 26^3"? That's a big different.

If you understand what the answers are supposed to say, then
(1) the correct answer for State A is (26^2)*(9^4)*23
(2) the correct answer for State B is (26^2)*(9^4)/26, which also can be written as 26*25*(9^4)
If that's what you got, your correct.
If you didn't get these answers, then one would get these using the Fundamental Counting Principle, explained in this blog article:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-quant-how-to-count/

If, after reading that blog, you still have questions, let me know, and I'll demonstrate a full solution for this problem.

Mike :-)


Hi Mike,

Thanks for the solution.
However shouldn't the answer for state B be 26*26* 9*9*9*9
Seems as though there is a small typo above, has gotten me confused.
if you could please have a look.
Thank you.
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stne
Hi Mike,

Thanks for the solution.
However shouldn't the answer for state B be 26*26* 9*9*9*9
Seems as though there is a small typo above, has gotten me confused.
if you could please have a look.
Thank you.
Dear stne,

Yes, you're perfectly correct. I changed it in the above post. Thanks for pointing out the mistake.

Mike :-)
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for STATE A

ways in which we can get the values are

23*26*26*9*9*9*9 = 23*26^2*9^4


for STATE B

ways in which we can get the values are

26*26*9*9*9*9 = 26^2*9^4


Hence Column 1 last option and column 2 second option

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