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Five teams-A, B, C, D, and E — each consisting of 15 members, are going on expeditions to five different locations. Each team includes members from three different skill sets: biologists, geologists, and explorers. However, the number of members from each skill set varies by team and each member has only one speciality. The total number of biologists, geologists, and explorers are equal.

The following additional information is available

  • Every team has at least 2 members from each of the three skill sets.
    • Teams C and D have 6 biologists each, and Team A has 6 geologists.
    • Every team except A has more biologists than explorers.
    • The number of explorers in each team is distinct and decreases in the order A, B, C, D, and E.

The median number of biologists across five teams is

Entered answer:

Solution

✅ Correct Answer: 6
Slide 1/6

5 teams ×× 15 members (in each team) == 75 total members.

Equal distribution across skill sets == 25 biologists, 25 geologists, 25 explorers.


Step 1. Create your data-structure (table). If this is properly done, half of the headache is solved:

TeamBiologistsGeologistsExplorersTotal
A15
B15
C15
D15
E15
Total25252575

Step 2. From “Teams C and D have 6 biologists each, Team A has 6 geologists” (point 2):

TeamBiologistsGeologistsExplorers
A6
B
C6
D6
E

Step 3. Explorers are all distinct, decreasing A → E, summing to 25 with each ≥2 (points 4 & 1).

The only fit is: EA,EB,EC,ED,EE=7,6,5,4,3E_A,E_B,E_C,E_D,E_E=7,6,5,4,3.

Whenever points like these are mentioned, don't get lazy, just start adding (3+4+5+6+7=25)(3+4+5+6+7 = 25)

TeamBiologistsGeologistsExplorers
A67
B6
C65
D64
E3

Step 4. Now each team total is 15. Find the remaining value for A, C and D:

TeamBiologistsGeologistsExplorers
A267
B6
C645
D654
E3

Step 5. For B, we need BB>EB=6B_B>E_B=6 (point 3) and GB≥2G_B\ge2 (point 1).

So, biologists need to be 7 or more:

  • If we have 7 biologists, we can have 2 geologists ✅
  • If we have 8 biologists, we can have only 1 geologist ❌ -> At least 2 are required (point 1).
TeamBiologistsGeologistsExplorers
A267
B726
C645
D654
E3

Step 6. Finally, for E, every column (biologists, geologists, explorers must sum to 25):

TeamBiologistsGeologistsExplorers
A267
B726
C645
D654
E483

The biologists (in ascending order) are: 2, 4, 6, 6, 7.

The middle most value (median) is 6.

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