7 teams compete in a track competition. If there are 20

[ms100]

help, i don't get the explanation because it says that to calculate the solution first havet to get the that the teams don't win any events and then the solutions switches to calculating the max number of wins per team. Can someone please break it down a bit more?

Thanks!

7 teams compete in a track competition. If there are 20 events in the competition, no event ends in a tie, and no team wins more than 3 events, what is the minimum possible number of teams that won at least one event?
3
4
5
6
7

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, can you give the question name of this question? You can find it on your index of questions when you review the test. I want to take a look at the explanation to see if I can clarify the part that is confusing. Thanks!

[vanD]

Is the answer 7?

[vanD]

IMO 6.

[ms100]

Its called tracking winners thanks,
Mariela

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks.

The key is that the question asks us to minimize the number of teams that win at least once. If there are 7 teams, the maximum number that could win at least once is all 7. If we want to lower that number then some teams will have to not win at all. If 6 win at least once, then 1 won't win at all. If 5 win at least once, then 2 won't win at all. And so on. If I want to minimize the number of teams that win at least once, then I also have to maximize the number of teams that don't win at all.

I don't actually have to figure this number out first, I just have to use this concept to figure out how many do have to win at least once if the maximum possible number of them don't win at all.

The problem tells me that no team wins more than 3 times, but that means teams can win exactly 3 times. So, I want to "use up" those wins for as few teams as possible, so I can maximize the number of teams that don't win anything. If 6 teams each win 3 times, that takes care of 18 wins. I need to get to 20 wins, so that's not quite enough. One more team has to win 2 games to add up to 20. 6+1 = 7, so all 7 teams have to win at least one game.

[unique]

Thanks.

The key is that the question asks us to minimize the number of teams that win at least once. If there are 7 teams, the maximum number that could win at least once is all 7. If we want to lower that number then some teams will have to not win at all. If 6 win at least once, then 1 won't win at all. If 5 win at least once, then 2 won't win at all. And so on. If I want to minimize the number of teams that win at least once, then I also have to maximize the number of teams that don't win at all.

I don't actually have to figure this number out first, I just have to use this concept to figure out how many do have to win at least once if the maximum possible number of them don't win at all.

The problem tells me that no team wins more than 3 times, but that means teams can win exactly 3 times. So, I want to "use up" those wins for as few teams as possible, so I can maximize the number of teams that don't win anything. If 6 teams each win 3 times, that takes care of 18 wins. I need to get to 20 wins, so that's not quite enough. One more team has to win 2 games to add up to 20. 6+1 = 7, so all 7 teams have to win at least one game.

I get the solution when I read it. But obviously when I read the question my mind goes blank. My first score on GMAT has been 610. I have 2 months to prepare before I retake and reapply. I have purchased all MGMAT guides (other than word transalation).

How shud I start thinking on such questions? Does word translations book cover this?

[StaceyKoprince]

Yep - this is a Word Translations question :)

Don't forget that you will see questions on the test that you cannot do, so figure out some other way to approach them, narrow down your answer choices, guess from the remaining choices, and move on. Everyone has to do this on the test, even me / the instructors - no matter how good you are, the test will give you something you can't do. So make sure you study from that point of view as well.