Best Strategic Tips and Tricks for Solving DATA Interpretation

Taking on Data Interpretation

Data Interpretation is an integral part in most of the competitive exams and has changed over the period. From being organized in early 2000’s it shifted to unorganized data in late 2000’s but with the advent of online CAT things have changed radically. The focus on organized data is back but the difficulty level has shifted to a new area i.e. calculation and understanding.

If one is preparing in any of the top MBA coaching classes, then they would be having idea about the in the current scenario a typical CAT paper has approximately 8-10 questions of DI within the quantitative section which is spread across 3-4 sets of 2-3 questions each. This has resulted in two things:

1.    Not much time can be devoted to understanding the set as the overall time allocation is also low.
2.    Difficulty level has moved from understanding the set to solving the set or calculation.

Isn’t it so much easier to solve a DI set on paper by writing the numbers right next to the question and marking things on the graph itself, but with online all this luxury has gone for a toss.

Let us try and understand the questions which are more common in the current scenario and get the challenges solved by reading at - http://endeavorcareers.com/gurus-speak/135-data-interpretation

Puzzle on Logical Reasoning - At the Party there were 9 men and children......

Question: At the Party:

• There were 9 men and children.
• There were 2 more women than children.
• The number of different man-woman couples possible was 24. Note that if there were 7 men and 5 women, then there would have been 35 man-woman couples possible.
•  Also, of the three groups - men, women and children - at the party:
• There were 4 of one group.
• There were 6 of one group.
• There were 8 of one group.

Exactly one of the above 6 statements is false.

Can you tell which one is false? Also, how many men, women and children are there at the party?

Answer:    Statement (4) is false. There are 3 men, 8 women and 6 children.

Solution: 

Assume that Statements (4), (5) and (6) are all true. Then, Statement (1) is false. But then Statement (2) and (3) both can not be true. Thus, contradictory to the fact that exactly one statement is false. So Statement (4) or Statement (5) or Statement (6) is false. Also, Statements (1), (2) and (3) all are true. From (1) and (2), there are 11 men and women. Then from (3), there are 2 possible cases - either there are 8 men and 3 women or there are 3 men and 8 women. If there are 8 men and 3 women, then there is 1 child. Then Statements (4) and (5) both are false, which is not possible. Hence, there are 3 men, 8 women and 6 children. Statement (4) is false.

Puzzle on Calender - Yesterday in a party, I asked Mr. Shah his birthday.

Question: Yesterday in a party, I asked Mr. Shah his birthday. With a mischievous glint in his eyes he replied. "The day before yesterday I was 83 years old and next year I will be 86."
Can you figure out what is the Date of Birth of Mr. Shah? Assume that the current year is 2000.

Answer:    Mr. Shah's date of birth is 31 December, 1915

Solution: 

Today is 1 January, 2000. The day before yesterday was 30 December, 1999 and Mr. Shah was 83 on that day. Today i.e. 1 January, 2000 - he is 84. On 31 December 2000, he will be 85 and next year i.e. 31 December, 2001 - he will be 86. Hence, the date of birth is 31 December, 1915. Many people do think of Leap year and date of birth as 29th February as 2000 is the Leap year and there is difference of 3 years in Mr. Shah's age. But that is not the answer.