A certain number of marbles are to be removed from a box containing only solid-colored red, yellow, and blue marbles. How many more yellow marbles than red marbles are in the box before any are removed?
(1) To guarantee that a red marble is removed, the smallest number of marbles that must be removed from the box is 14.
(2) To guarantee that a yellow marble is removed, the smallest number of marbles that must be removed from the box is 8.
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This one looks easier than it is. Took me a minute to realize we need the actual counts of red and yellow.
Same here. The wording about guarantee kept tripping me up.
I initially picked D because both seemed enough on their own. Classic trap.
Statement 1 tells us red + blue = 13, so red is at most 13. Statement 2 tells us yellow + blue = 7. Still don't see how to get yellow - red without knowing blue.
Right, blue is the missing piece. Until I saw that, I was stuck too.
Got C pretty fast. The guarantee wording basically converts into inequalities, then you just add them up.
Nice, adding the two equations was the key insight for me as well.
What it tests
Your fluency with the order of operations, fractions, decimals, and basic number sense — the foundation every quant question leans on.
Common trap
Applying the order of operations out of sequence or rounding intermediate values before the final step.