Car X and Car Y

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Car X and Car Y were members of a cross-country race. If Car X and Car Y drove a total of 300 miles, how many miles did Car X drive?

(1) Car Y drove as many miles as Car X did.

(2) Car X drove 11 percent of all miles driven in the race.

Review: Car X and Car Y




Explanation

In this question, we are given a quantity in miles and asked for a different quantity of miles. If we call X and Y the number of miles the cars respectively drive, then we have . We are looking for X. We can get it by obtaining Y or by obtaining another independent equation with X and Y, so we have two equations to match the two variables. Let's evaluate the statements, first separately.

Statement (1) gives us a new equation of X and Y, namely , so we will be able to solve for X--for example, by substituting the value of Y into the first equation we have. Sufficient.

Statement (2) looks like it dishes up the answer: Car X drove 11% of the total, 300, or 33 miles. But on scrutiny, we get snagged by the phrase "all miles driven in the race." That would seem to refer to cars on other teams and a great total of miles driven that we don't know. It's an odd statement, but by what it says, we must conclude that it is insufficient.

The correct answer is (A).


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