BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Best Strategy To Solve Fractions Questions

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
Source: — Problem Solving |
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:29 am
Location: Boston, MA
Thanked: 26 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:700

by asamaverick » Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:05 am
The best trick is to get the denominator of all to the same number, I am sure you were aware of this.

But this is not always the easiest thing to do. Take for instance Q1 above. Here the denominators are 7, 8, 10, 13, 35....13 & 7 being prime, each of these fractions will have to be multiplied by 13*7*2*5*2*2. This is not the easiest thing to do.
Another quick approach I always use is this.

Note that for every positive p & q, p/q is < (p+1)/(q+1).
This will easily help you solve Q1 above.

For Q2, you can reduce the terms to 3/8, 5/7, 7/8, 6/8.
It's clear that 3/8 is the lowest and if you apply my trick here, you will know that out of 5/7 , 7/8 and 6/8 - 7/8 is largest.

Hope this helps.
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1