In a class of 5 students, average weight of the 4 lightest students is 40 kgs,…

Lets say that the students are named a, b, c, d and e, in increasing order of weights. The average of a, b, c and d is 40 kg, whereas the average of b, c, d and e is 45 kg.

The sum of a, b, c and d is 160 kg, and the sum of b, c, d and e is 180 kg.

What is the total weight of all the students?

There are two ways of looking at this.

a) 160 + e

b) 180 + a

Or, e is 20 more than a.

The total weight is 160 + e. So, the highest value of e will correspond to the highest possible average. The highest possible value of e occurs when it is 20 higher than the highest possible value for a, which is 40 (all the first 4 scores are equal to 40).

So, the highest possible average is (160+60)/5 = 44

This will be the case when the weights are 40 kgs, 40kgs, 40 kgs, 40 kgs and 60 kgs.

Conversely, the least possible value for the average occurs when a is the least. This happens when e is the least too (since a is 20 less than e).

The least possible value for e is 45 = 180/4

So, the least possible value for a would be 25.

The least possible average = (180+25) /5= 41

This will be the case when the weights are 25 kgs, 45kgs, 45 kgs, 45 kgs and 45 kgs. So, the difference between maximum possible and minimum possible average = 3 kgs.

The question is "What is the difference between the the maximum and minimum possible average weight overall?"

Hence, the answer is "3 kgs".

Choice C is the correct answer.