Loading...
Lauren wants to assemble a collection of books with fish-themed titles by shopping at her local bookstore. On the bookstore's website, she searched for the keyword fish. The search returned only the results shown in the table. From the copies in stock included in the search results, Lauren purchased 4 books with distinct titles from 4 different sections with an average (arithmetic mean) price of more than \(\$12.00\).
| Title | Author | Format | Section | Copies in stock | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curious George at the Aquarium | Rey, Margaret | used hardcover | children's | 1 | $3.99 |
| Curious George Goes Fishing | Rey, H. A. | new hardcover | children's | 3 | $2.98 |
| Eels | Prosek, James | new hardcover | science | 1 | $25.99 |
| Fish | Bittman, Mark | used hardcover | cooking | 2 | $11.00 |
| Fish | Bittman, Mark | new paperback | cooking | 4 | $9.98 |
| Float-fishing Strategies | Streeks, E. Neale | new paperback | outdoors | 0 | $19.95 |
| Salmon | Morgan, Diane | new paperback | cooking | 2 | $9.98 |
| Saving Fish from Drowning | Tan, Amy | used paperback | literature | 6 | $2.63 |
| Saving Fish from Drowning | Tan, Amy | new paperback | literature | 1 | $7.98 |
For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is true about the purchase that Lauren made. Otherwise, select No.
Lauren purchased a new book.
Lauren purchased a book from the cooking section.
Lauren purchased Eels.
Let's start by understanding our bookstore table with the mindset of immediately identifying key patterns and constraints. This table shows books organized by section, with their titles, conditions (new/used), and prices.
The most important insights we need to recognize immediately:
These constraints immediately narrow our search space and will be crucial for solving efficiently.
The question asks us to select exactly one book from each of four sections (Children's, Science, Cooking, and Literature) with an average price exceeding \(\$12.00\). Let's convert this to a more useful threshold:
This conversion from average to total threshold will save us significant calculation time.
Statement 1 Translation:
Original: "Both Eels and Saving Fish are new copies."
What we're looking for:
In other words: Are new copies of both these specific books available for our selection?
Looking at our table, we can verify:
Since we can select the new copy of Saving Fish, this statement is Yes.
Statement 2 Translation:
Original: "Fish is from the Cooking section."
What we're looking for:
In other words: Does the Cooking section contain a book called Fish?
Checking our table:
This statement is Yes.
Statement 3 Translation:
Original: "Eels is included in the selection."
What we're looking for:
In other words: Is Eels a required part of our book combination?
As we identified in our initial dataset analysis:
This statement is Yes.
Now let's determine if we can create a combination that meets our average price requirement.
Since we need the total price to exceed \(\$48.00\), and Eels (\(\$25.99\)) is locked in, let's strategically select the highest-priced options from each remaining section:
Let's verify our total:
\(\$25.99 + \$3.99 + \$11.00 + \$7.98 = \$48.96\)
Since \(\$48.96 > \$48.00\), our average exceeds \(\$12.00\), confirming we can satisfy the question requirements.
Statement 1: Yes - Both Eels and Saving Fish are available as new copies
Statement 2: Yes - Fish is indeed in the Cooking section
Statement 3: Yes - Eels must be included as it's the only Science book
Therefore, the answer is D (all statements are true).
Remember that in GMAT table analysis questions, identifying constraints first often reveals "forced" selections that significantly narrow your search space and save valuable time.
Lauren purchased a new book.
Lauren purchased a book from the cooking section.
Lauren purchased Eels.