[madnak]

[ QUOTE ]
despite the ambiguity, it seems to me that the reader should be able to figure out that the writer meant 990. it would be an awfully stupid way to write the 720 question...in other words, if the writer meant 720, he would have to struggle to arrive at such an odd wording. for 990, i think the words could easily come out how they did- and the writer might not notice the ambiguity, since his grammer can be correct for what he means.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree, and on the contrary I can't see how anyone could write the 990 question like that. But there's enough dissent here that the interpretations are probably equivalent.

I still think the 720 question makes more sense, because the 990 question is inane. I mean this is the GMAT, not Kindergarten.