Source: Official Guide Revised GRE 1st Ed. Part 6; Set 2; #1
Machine R, working alone at a constant rate
Meera Gandhi
Would it be OK to round 48 to 50 to make it easier? So 240/50 = 4.8 and so Option A is greater?
Feb 21, 2018 • Comment
Sam Kinsman
Hi Meera,
Yes, you could do that, and you'd still get the right answer. But you should be careful about rounding in quantitative comparison problems. If it is clear that the difference between the two quantities is very large, it is OK to round - but otherwise, I'd suggest that you avoid rounding, because if the two quantities are almost the same, rounding could make you get the wrong answer.
Mar 1, 2018 • Reply
Samy Ishak-Boushaki
I think about it using proportions:
1) Convert x to a tangible number, like 1.
2) If machine R produces 1 unit in 30 minutes, and machine S produces 1 unit in 48 minutes, then notice that machine S needs 48/30 = 8/5 longer to make a unit than machine R.
3) If Quantity A is the amount that machine R can make in 3 hours, and Quantity B is the amount that machine S can make in 4 hours, then notice that machine S has 4/3 = 8/6 longer to make a unit than machine R.
4) Machine S needs 8/5 longer per unit, but only has 8/6 longer to work; 8/5 > 8/6, so machine S's extra time is not enough to counteract it's slower speed. Quantity A is greater.
May 6, 2016 • Comment
Hannah Taylor Brown
Hi Cydney! Why can we assume X is the same in both cases? Machine R could produce 1 in 30 minutes and machine S could produce let's say 20 in 48 minutes.... Making column B bigger. I figured this was a cannot be determined question
Jun 2, 2016 • Reply
Cydney Seigerman, Magoosh Tutor
Hi Hannah :)
Good question! In a given question, a variable is assigned to represent some unknown value. For each unknown value, we need a new variable. So, if the number of units being referred to were different, we would need to make that clear by assigning different variables (e.g. x and y).
Does that clear things up? If not, please let me know :)
Jun 3, 2016 • Reply
Sam Kinsman
Samy noticed that if we plug in 1 for x, machine R produces 1 unit in 30 minutes, and machine S produces 1 unit in 48 minutes. So now, we can see that machine S takes longer to produce 1 unit than machine S does. More specifically, machine S takes 48 minutes, while machine R just takes 30 minutes. So we can say that machine S takes 48/30 times as long as machine R does.
Here's a simpler example that will help you see how this works. Let's say that it takes John 2 hours to paint a house, and that it takes Jessica just 1 hour to paint a house. So it takes John 2/1 times as long as it takes Jessica to paint 1 house. 2/1= 2, so it takes John 2 times as long as it takes Jessica to paint 1 house.
Jan 23, 2017 • Reply
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Official GRE Material
Official Guide Revised GRE 1st Ed.
Official Guide Revised GRE 2nd Ed.
Set 2. Discrete Questions: Medium
- 1. Machine R, working ...
- 2. List X and list Y e...
- 3. In the figure above...
- 4. x2y > 0 xy2 < 0
- 5. Among the 9,000 peo...
- 6. If x ? 0, which of ...
- 7. The figure above sh...
- 8. If , which of the f...
- 9. By weight, liquid A...
- 10. Of the 700 members...
- 11. The figure above r...
- 12. Line k lies in the...
- 13. If the lengths of ...
- 14. On the number line...
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