QUESTION

CSAT

Medium

Maths

Prelims 2024

A Question is given followed by two Statements I and II. Consider the Question and the Statements.

Question: If the average marks in a class are 60, them what is the number of students in the class?

Statement-I: The highest marks in the class are 70 and the lowest marks are 50. Statement-II: Exclusion of highest and lowest marks from the class does not change the average.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above Question and the Statements?

Select an option to attempt

Explanation

Using Statement-I alone: Statement-I provides the highest marks (7070) and the lowest marks (5050) but does not give information about the total number of students or their individual marks. Hence, it is not sufficient to determine the number of students in the class. Therefore, Statement-I alone is insufficient.

Using Statement-II alone: Statement-II tells us that excluding the highest and lowest marks does not change the average, which means the average of the remaining marks is also 6060. However, this alone does not provide enough information to calculate the total number of students. Therefore, Statement-II alone is insufficient.

Combining Statement-I and Statement-II: From Statement-II, we know that excluding the highest (7070) and lowest (5050) marks does not change the average, so the average of the remaining marks is still 6060. Let the number of students in the class be nn, and the total sum of marks be SS. The average marks are given by:

S/n=60S/n = 60, so S=60nS = 60n.

After excluding the highest and lowest marks, the sum of the remaining marks is (S7050)=S120(S - 70 - 50) = S - 120, and the number of students is (n2)(n - 2).

Thus, the new average is:

(S120)/(n2)=60(S - 120) / (n - 2) = 60.

Substituting S=60nS = 60n:

(60n120)/(n2)=60(60n - 120) / (n - 2) = 60.

Simplifying:

60n120=60(n2)60n - 120 = 60(n - 2),

60n120=60n12060n - 120 = 60n - 120.

This equation holds true for any value of nn, indicating that no specific number of students can be determined. Therefore, both statements together still do not give a unique answer.

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