college teacher surveyed

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college teacher surveyed

by anant03 » Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:02 am
Hi ,

Please explain this by double matrix method.


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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:24 am
Of the 1400 College teachers surveyed 42% said they considered engaging in research an essential goal. How many of the college teachers surveyed were women?

1. In the survey 36% of the men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal.
2. In the survey, 288 men said they considered engaging in research an essential goal.

OA A
Target question: How many women?

Let W = # of women
Let M = # of men

Given: W + M = 1400

Statement 1: In the survey 36% of the men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal.
0.36M + 0.50W = # of teachers who consider research essential.
Well, we're already told that 42% of all 1400 teachers consider research essential.
So, 0.36M + 0.50W = (0.42)(1400)

So we have W + M = 1400 and 0.36M + 0.50W = (0.42)(1400)
Since we could solve this system for M and W, we can definitely answer the target question with certainty.
This means that statement 1 is SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: In the survey, 288 men said they considered engaging in research an essential goal.
We don't know the number of men altogether, so we don't know the percentage of men who consider research essential. Plus, we don't know anything about the women.
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer = A

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by Max@Math Revolution » Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:18 am
Forget conventional ways of solving math questions. In DS, Variable approach is the easiest and quickest way to find the answer without actually solving the problem.
Remember equal number of variables and independent equations ensures a solution.

Of the 1,4000 college teachers surveyed, 42 percent said that they considered engaging in research an a essential goal. How many of the college tehachers surveyed were women?
1) In the survey, 36 percent of the men and 50 percent of the women said they considered engaging in research an essential goal
2) In the survey, 288 men said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal

Transforming the original condition and the question, we have the below 2by2 table that are common in GMAT test

[/img]

There are 4 variables (a,b,c,d), 2 equations (a+b+c+d=1,400, a+b=1,400*0.42) and thus we need 2 more equations to match the number of variables and equations.
In case of 1), there are 2 equations (b=(b+d)*0.36, a=(a+c)*0.5) therefore the condition is sufficient.
In case of 2), there is 1 equation (b=288) therefore the condition is not sufficient. Therefore the answer is A


Normally for cases where we need 2 more equations, such as original conditions with 2 variable, or 3 variables and 1 equation, or 4 variables and 2 equations, we have 1 equation each in both 1) and 2). Therefore C has a high chance of being the answer, which is why we attempt to solve the question using 1) and 2) together. Here, there is 70% chance that C is the answer, while E has 25% chance. These two are the key questions. In case of common mistake type 3,4, the answer may be from A, B or D but there is only 5% chance. Since C is most likely to be the answer according to DS definition, we solve the question assuming C would be our answer hence using ) and 2) together. (It saves us time). Obviously there may be cases where the answer is A, B, D or E.

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by jain2016 » Wed May 04, 2016 8:49 am
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:
Of the 1400 College teachers surveyed 42% said they considered engaging in research an essential goal. How many of the college teachers surveyed were women?

1. In the survey 36% of the men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal.
2. In the survey, 288 men said they considered engaging in research an essential goal.

OA A
Target question: How many women?

Let W = # of women
Let M = # of men

Given: W + M = 1400

Statement 1: In the survey 36% of the men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal.
0.36M + 0.50W = # of teachers who consider research essential.
Well, we're already told that 42% of all 1400 teachers consider research essential.
So, 0.36M + 0.50W = (0.42)(1400)
Hi Brent ,

Just a quick question.

In statement 1 we are given that 36% of the Men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal, but how about rest 14%? In those 14% there might be a women, who don't consider engaging in research an essential goal. SO we didn't include those 14% why?

Please explain and correct me.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Wed May 04, 2016 9:10 am
jain2016 wrote: Hi Brent ,

Just a quick question.

In statement 1 we are given that 36% of the Men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal, but how about rest 14%? In those 14% there might be a women, who don't consider engaging in research an essential goal. SO we didn't include those 14% why?

Please explain and correct me.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ
There's no missing 14%. We can't just add 50% and 36% to get 86% and conclude that we're missing 14% of the people.
To show this, we could have a scenario in which 80% of men and 70% of women enjoy pizza. If we add the percentages here, we get more than 100% but we still have a valid scenario.

If 36% of the Men and 50% of the women said that they considered engaging in research an essential goal, then we can also conclude that 64% of men and 50% of women DO NOT consider engaging in research an essential goal.

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent
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by jain2016 » Wed May 04, 2016 8:46 pm
Hi Brent ,

Thank you sir, I got it.

Thanks,

SJ