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What is the value of (k – w ) + (k – x ) + (k – y )?
(1) w, x, and y are three consecutive odd numbers
(2) The mean of w, x, and y is k
Target question: What is the value of (k – w ) + (k – x ) + (k – y )?This is a good candidate for
rephrasing the target question. Take:
(k – w ) + (k – x ) + (k – y )Simplify to get:
3k – w – x – y Rewrite as:
3k – (w + x + y) REPHRASED target question: What is the value of 3k – (w + x + y) ?Aside: The video below has tips on rephrasing the target question
Statement 1: w, x, and y are three consecutive odd numbers Since we have no information about k, there's no way to determine the value of
3k – (w + x + y) Since we cannot answer the
REPHRASED target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: The mean of w, x, and y is k This tells us that (w + x + y)/3 = k
Multiply both sides by 3 to get: w + x + y = 3k
If w + x + y =
3k, then
3k – (w + x + y) = 3k – (
3k) =
0Perfect, the answer to the
REPHRASED target question is
0Since we can answer the
REPHRASED target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT
Answer: B
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