Defective parts

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Defective parts

by sam2304 » Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:41 pm
A shipment consists of 1,800 parts, some of which are defective. If a part is chosen from the shipment at random, the probability of it being defective is 1/9 the probability that it is not defective. How many of the parts in the shipment are defective?
(A) 90
(B) 120
(C) 180
(D) 200
(E) 900
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by Anurag@Gurome » Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:47 pm
sam2304 wrote:A shipment consists of 1,800 parts, some of which are defective. If a part is chosen from the shipment at random, the probability of it being defective is 1/9 the probability that it is not defective. How many of the parts in the shipment are defective?
Conceptual Approach:
As the probability of a randomly chosen part being defective is 1/9 the probability that it is not defective, number of defective part in that shipment is 1/9 of the number of not defective parts.

Hence, number of defective parts = 1800/(1 + 9) = 1800/10 = 180

The correct answer is C.
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by Anurag@Gurome » Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:54 pm
Algebraic Approach:
Let us assume the number of defective parts in the shipment = x
Hence, the probability of a randomly chosen part being defective = x/1800

And, the number of non-defective parts in the shipment = (1800 - x)
Hence, the probability of a randomly chosen part being not defective = (1800 - x)/1800

So, x/1800 = (1/9)*(1800 - x)/1800
--> x = (1/9)*(1800 - x)
--> 9x = (1800 - x)
--> 10x = 1800
--> x = 180

The correct answer is C.
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by sam2304 » Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:04 am
OA : C.

Thanks a lot anurag. After reading your algebraic approach, I get what this means "the probability of it being defective is 1/9 the probability that it is not defective" from the question. It really threw me off.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Jun 02, 2012 3:23 am
sam2304 wrote:A shipment consists of 1,800 parts, some of which are defective. If a part is chosen from the shipment at random, the probability of it being defective is 1/9 the probability that it is not defective. How many of the parts in the shipment are defective?
(A) 90
(B) 120
(C) 180
(D) 200
(E) 900

The probability that the part is defective is 1/9 the probability that it is not defective.
To determine the ratio of defective parts to non-defective parts, plug in.
If there are 9 non-defective parts, then the number of defective parts = (1/9)9 = 1.
Thus, of every 10 parts, the fraction that are defective = 1/(9+1) = 1/10.
Total number of defective parts = (1/10)1800 = 180.

The correct answer is C.

We also could plug in the answer choices, which represent the number of defective parts.

Answer choice C: 180
P(defective) = 180/1800 = 1/10, implying that P(non-defective) = 1 - 1/10 = 9/10.
P(defective)/P(non-defective) = (1/10)/(9/10) = 1/9.
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