Quant question on test 1

[arijitpal2009]

It is question no. 16 of 1st Math section of test 1, which is data interpretation question regarding US population and insurance.



The second graph states it depicts:-percentage of US population with health insurance by age

I answered both A and C. But regarding option C, it states in the answer that the percentages are with respect to the total population of that age group, and not with the total population. But reading the second graph, it clearly states that it shows different age groups as a function of the US population. Is this a possible error? If not, how can I understand that by US population, it meant population by the age groups and not the total population?

[tommywallach]

Hey Arijit,

Almost, but you're not quite thinking of it right. Here's what we know:

In 2008, about 84% of people 45-54 had health insurance and about 81% of 35-44 year olds had health insurance.

Unfortunately, we don't know HOW MANY people there are in those two age groups. We know the PERCENTAGE is higher for 45-54 year olds, but there might be fewer people in that age group, so the overall number would be younger.

Make sense?

-t