Study the given table and answer the question that follows. The following table shows the production of printers by four plants of a company over the five years. What is the difference between the average production of plant 1 and plant 2 during five years?

Correct — B. The table header reads Production (in thousands), so every figure in the grid is a count of thousands.

Plant 1: 35 + 43 + 48 + 32 + 42 = 200
Plant 2: 25 + 44 + 39 + 40 + 44 = 192

Both averages divide by the same 5, so subtract the totals first:
200 − 192 = 8
8 ÷ 5 = 1.6 thousand

1.6 thousand = 1,600 printers → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  1400 — 1,400 is 1.4 thousand, which would need the two five-year totals to differ by 7. They differ by 8.
• (c)
  3000 — 3,000 is 3 thousand, needing a gap of 15 between the totals — nearly twice the real gap of 8.
• (d)
  3840 — 3,840 is Plant 2's own average, 38.4 thousand, scaled by 100. The stem asks for the difference between two averages, not for one of them.

When two averages run over the same number of years, the subtraction shortcut is safe: (sum₁ − sum₂) ÷ 5 equals average₁ − average₂.

Plant 1 averages 200 ÷ 5 = 40 thousand and Plant 2 averages 192 ÷ 5 = 38.4 thousand, a gap of 1.6 thousand.

In table DI the marks go on the header line, not on the addition. 'In thousands' is what turns 1.6 into 1,600.

Key facts

• Plant 1's five-year total is 200 thousand, an average of 40 thousand.
• Plant 2's five-year total is 192 thousand, an average of 38.4 thousand.
• When two means share a divisor, the difference of the means is the difference of the totals over that divisor.
• The header says thousands, so a difference of 1.6 on the table is 1,600 printers.

Common traps

• Answering 1.6 and never converting out of thousands.
• Adding four of the five years because the eye skips a row.
• Subtracting a single year's figures, such as 2018's 35 − 25 = 10, instead of the averages.

No directly related past PYQ was found.