Last visit was: 08 Jul 2025, 23:02 It is currently 08 Jul 2025, 23:02
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
555-605 Level|   Statistics and Sets Problems|                                       
User avatar
ScottTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 08 Jul 2025
Posts: 21,064
Own Kudos:
26,112
 [1]
Given Kudos: 296
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 21,064
Kudos: 26,112
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
TheAlchemist36
Joined: 19 Oct 2021
Last visit: 03 Nov 2022
Posts: 13
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 50
Location: India
Posts: 13
Kudos: 3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
avigutman
Joined: 17 Jul 2019
Last visit: 06 Jul 2025
Posts: 1,294
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 66
Location: Canada
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V45
GMAT 2: 780 Q50 V47
GMAT 3: 770 Q50 V45
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 3: 770 Q50 V45
Posts: 1,294
Kudos: 1,888
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
TheAlchemist36
Joined: 19 Oct 2021
Last visit: 03 Nov 2022
Posts: 13
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 50
Location: India
Posts: 13
Kudos: 3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
avigutman
TheAlchemist36
Hello experts!
Bunuel avigutman KarishmaB ScottTargetTestPrep
In the upper 25% range, what if we have all projects having let's say 5(>4) employees per project?
In that case, wouldn't the answer be E?
TheAlchemist36 you're proposing a scenario that is possible, even with both statements combined (that the top 25% of projects all have 5 employees assigned to them). So, that's good.
Now, you're suggesting that since is scenario is possible, the correct answer is E.
The problem with your post is that you haven't provided any justification for choosing answer choice E.
This makes it very difficult to help you find your mistake.
So: why is it that you believe answer choice E is appropriate, given that it's possible that the top 25% of projects all have 5 employees assigned to them?

Ok, got it!
Initially I thought in that scenario, the median value could be either 3 or 4 and hence the answer choice E.
But then if it's 4, it will violate statement I, which caps the no. of projects with 4 or more to 25%.
Thanks for helping me think through it!
User avatar
theunicornbuzz
Joined: 25 Sep 2021
Last visit: 14 May 2023
Posts: 8
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 78
Posts: 8
Kudos: 18
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Bunuel
ITIZCODE
What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project.
(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project

What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project. Not sufficient on its own.

(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project. Not sufficient on its own.

(1)+(2) Since 35% of of the projects have 2 or fewer (\(\leq{2}\))employees and 25% of the projects have 4 or more (\(\geq{4}\)) employees, then 100%-(25%+35%)=40% of the projects have exactly 3 employees assigned to each of them. So, the median number of employees assigned per project is 3. Sufficient.

Answer: C.

To elaborate more: consider there are 100 projects: \(\{p_1, \ p_2, \ ... , \ p_{100}\}\). The values of \(p_1\) to \(p_{35}\) will be 0, 1, or 2; the values of \(p_{36}\) to \(p_{75}\) will be exactly 3; the values of \(p_{76}\) to \(p_{100}\) will be 4 or more. \(Median=\frac{p_{50}+p_{51}}{2}=\frac{3+3}{2}=3\).

For example list can be: \(\{2, \ 2, \ 2, \ ..., \ (p_{35}=2), \ (p_{36}=3), \ 3, \ ..., \ (p_{75}=3), \ (p_{76}=4), \ 4, \ ..., \ (p_{100}=4)\}\);
OR:
\(\{0, \ 0, \ 1, \ 1, \ 1, \ 2, \ 2, \ ..., \ (p_{35}=2), \ (p_{36}=3), \ 3, \ ..., \ (p_{75}=3), \ (p_{76}=4), \ 5, \ 7, \ 27, \ ..., \ (p_{100}=10000)\}\) (of course there are a lot of other breakdowns).

In any case median=3.

Hope it's clear.

P.S. Please post PS questions in the PS subforum: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-problem-solving-ps-140/ and DS questions in the DS subforum: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-data-sufficiency-ds-141/ No posting of PS/DS questions is allowed in the main Math forum.


Bunuel your answer is dependent on the assumption that the company has 3 employees assigned to some projects. However no such information has been provided in the question stem. It is also possible that the company has 40% projects with 5 employees. Therefore the answer to this question should be E and not C.
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 08 Jul 2025
Posts: 102,594
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 97,452
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 102,594
Kudos: 739,625
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
theunicornbuzz
Bunuel
ITIZCODE
What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project.
(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project

What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project. Not sufficient on its own.

(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project. Not sufficient on its own.

(1)+(2) Since 35% of of the projects have 2 or fewer (\(\leq{2}\))employees and 25% of the projects have 4 or more (\(\geq{4}\)) employees, then 100%-(25%+35%)=40% of the projects have exactly 3 employees assigned to each of them. So, the median number of employees assigned per project is 3. Sufficient.

Answer: C.

To elaborate more: consider there are 100 projects: \(\{p_1, \ p_2, \ ... , \ p_{100}\}\). The values of \(p_1\) to \(p_{35}\) will be 0, 1, or 2; the values of \(p_{36}\) to \(p_{75}\) will be exactly 3; the values of \(p_{76}\) to \(p_{100}\) will be 4 or more. \(Median=\frac{p_{50}+p_{51}}{2}=\frac{3+3}{2}=3\).

For example list can be: \(\{2, \ 2, \ 2, \ ..., \ (p_{35}=2), \ (p_{36}=3), \ 3, \ ..., \ (p_{75}=3), \ (p_{76}=4), \ 4, \ ..., \ (p_{100}=4)\}\);
OR:
\(\{0, \ 0, \ 1, \ 1, \ 1, \ 2, \ 2, \ ..., \ (p_{35}=2), \ (p_{36}=3), \ 3, \ ..., \ (p_{75}=3), \ (p_{76}=4), \ 5, \ 7, \ 27, \ ..., \ (p_{100}=10000)\}\) (of course there are a lot of other breakdowns).

In any case median=3.

Hope it's clear.

P.S. Please post PS questions in the PS subforum: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-problem-solving-ps-140/ and DS questions in the DS subforum: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-data-sufficiency-ds-141/ No posting of PS/DS questions is allowed in the main Math forum.


Bunuel your answer is dependent on the assumption that the company has 3 employees assigned to some projects. However no such information has been provided in the question stem. It is also possible that the company has 40% projects with 5 employees. Therefore the answer to this question should be E and not C.

This is an official question, so the answer should be and is indeed C.

I addressed your doubt here and here.

Hope it helps.
User avatar
woohoo921
Joined: 04 Jun 2020
Last visit: 17 Mar 2023
Posts: 519
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 623
Posts: 519
Kudos: 118
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
ScottTargetTestPrep
ITIZCODE
What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project.
(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project
Solution:

Question Stem Analysis:


We need to determine the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z.

Statement One Alone:

We know the upper 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project. However, we can’t determine the median number of employees assigned per project because it could be 3, 2, or even 1 person.

Statement Two Alone:

We know the lower 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project. However, we can’t determine the median number of employees assigned per project because it could be 3, 4, or even more people.

Statements One and Two Together:

We know the upper 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project and the lower 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project, which means the middle 40 percent of the projects at Company Z must have exactly 3 employees assigned to each project. Since the middle 40 percent of the projects contains the median number, the median number of employees assigned per project must be 3.

Answer: C

ScottTargetTestPrep

Thank you for your helpful explanation.

When you mention "since the middle 40% of the projects contains the median number, the median number of employees assigned per project must be 3."

I was basically thinking that basically 100%-35%-25%=40%. The median of 100% is 50%, and within that 40% of values, the 50% must lie. Does that thinking make sense?
User avatar
ScottTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 08 Jul 2025
Posts: 21,064
Own Kudos:
26,112
 [1]
Given Kudos: 296
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 21,064
Kudos: 26,112
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
woohoo921
ScottTargetTestPrep
ITIZCODE
What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project.
(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project
Solution:

Question Stem Analysis:


We need to determine the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z.

Statement One Alone:

We know the upper 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project. However, we can’t determine the median number of employees assigned per project because it could be 3, 2, or even 1 person.

Statement Two Alone:

We know the lower 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project. However, we can’t determine the median number of employees assigned per project because it could be 3, 4, or even more people.

Statements One and Two Together:

We know the upper 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project and the lower 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project, which means the middle 40 percent of the projects at Company Z must have exactly 3 employees assigned to each project. Since the middle 40 percent of the projects contains the median number, the median number of employees assigned per project must be 3.

Answer: C

ScottTargetTestPrep

Thank you for your helpful explanation.

When you mention "since the middle 40% of the projects contains the median number, the median number of employees assigned per project must be 3."

I was basically thinking that basically 100%-35%-25%=40%. The median of 100% is 50%, and within that 40% of values, the 50% must lie. Does that thinking make sense?

Yes!
User avatar
RAZANMURADI
Joined: 28 Oct 2024
Last visit: 08 Jul 2025
Posts: 2
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 4
Posts: 2
Kudos: 1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I was confused about this first, as I had the same logic as you.

But then I realised that 'statement 1' - because 4 or more employees accounts for all numbers above 4 and 'statement 2', accounts for all numbers that are 2 and less than 2. So the only number not met in either condition is just 3. Therefore, the remaining 40% must be 3.
roygush
What is the median number of employees assigned per project for the projects at Company Z?

(1) 25 percent of the projects at Company Z have 4 or more employees assigned to each project.
(2) 35 percent of the projects at Company Z have 2 or fewer employees assigned to each project


Ruled out quickly A,B,D.
remained with C, E.
chose E.
then looked here:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-is-the- ... 31892.html

and i still dont understand bunuel's way.
why the employees who are not in the 25% or 35% must have exactly 3 employees?
thanks
   1   2 
Moderator:
Math Expert
102594 posts