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the winner won

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by sanju09 » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:23 am
In a writing competition, the first place winner receives ½ of the prize money. The second runner up receives ¼ of what the winner won. What was the total amount of prize money distributed if the winner receives $6,000?
A. $6,000
B. $8,500
C. $12,000
D. $15,000
E. $18,500



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by sureshbala » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:21 am
Hey folks, don't end up doing lot of calculations here...

Winner recieves 1/2 of the prize money and he received 6,000 $. So total prize money = 12,000$
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Re: the winner won

by Morgoth » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:10 pm
sanju09 wrote:In a writing competition, the first place winner receives ½ of the prize money. The second runner up receives ¼ of what the winner won. What was the total amount of prize money distributed if the winner receives $6,000?
A. $6,000
B. $8,500
C. $12,000
D. $15,000
E. $18,500



OA C
Dont you think this question is written in a little ambiguous manner

What is the total amount of money distributed


winner gets 6000

runner up gets = 1500

total money distributed = 7500


let me know if am I wrong. The question could have been clearer had it stated - "what was the amount of prize money"
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by avenus » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:31 am
Dont you think this question is written in a little ambiguous manner
What is the total amount of money distributed

winner gets 6000

runner up gets = 1500

total money distributed = 7500

let me know if am I wrong. The question could have been clearer had it stated - "what was the amount of prize money"
I agree that the wording is clumsy. However, you approach assumes a part of the prize money was not given away. The question doesn't say that and I think you're assuming too much but your interpretation is legitimate....
Last edited by avenus on Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by NethraN » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:10 am
yeah it is very ambiguous.

since 7500 is not in the answer choices we can go with 12000 but what if both were there?
The second runner up receives ¼ of what the winner won.
Any idea on how to interpret this....doesnt second runner up refer to the contestant that comes in third place??????
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by sanju09 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:18 am
NethraN wrote:yeah it is very ambiguous.

since 7500 is not in the answer choices we can go with 12000 but what if both were there?
The second runner up receives ¼ of what the winner won.
Any idea on how to interpret this....doesnt second runner up refer to the contestant that comes in third place??????
yes! the second runner up refers to the contestant that comes in third place, and those info are quite worthless if we only quote what we were asked for. Many other irrelevant info are also not there in question stem, so what? See what sureshbala is saying right on top! :)
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by gmat740 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:26 am
Any idea on how to interpret this....doesnt second runner up refer to the contestant that comes in third place??????

Yes its absolutely true,second runner-up refers to the person who comes 3rd.
sanju09 wrote:
In a writing competition, the first place winner receives ½ of the prize money. The second runner up receives ¼ of what the winner won. What was the total amount of prize money distributed if the winner receives $6,000?
A. $6,000
B. $8,500
C. $12,000
D. $15,000
E. $18,500



OA C


Dont you think this question is written in a little ambiguous manner

What is the total amount of money distributed


winner gets 6000

runner up gets = 1500

total money distributed = 7500


let me know if am I wrong. The question could have been clearer had it stated - "what was the amount of prize money"
Total =x(let)
so,
Winner = x/2
and Second runner-up(3rd) = 1/4(x/2)

It's given that winner gets total of 6000
thus, x/2=6000
x=12,000

Now the thing comes about the ambiguity.

Total money = Winner's money +1st runner-up's money + 2nd Runner=up's money
x = x/2+ 1st runner-up's money + x/8

So,
1st runner-up's money = 3x/8 =

Now total all the individual winner's money in the decreasing order of their rank=

Winner = 6000
1st runner-up = 4500
2nd runner-up =1500

Total =12000

Hope this solves the doubt
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by sanju09 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:37 am
:roll: who told gmat740 that the first runner up receives $4500, or there were only three prize positions. Read sureshbala's post on top and beware of certain GMAT traps that could kill your precious time on test.
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by NethraN » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:57 am
Yes buddy I agree with sureshbala's approach completely but then it will be a wayyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooo easy question for GMAT isnt it?

So I am just going one step ahead and asking what would be the case if 7,500 was also in the answer choice.

Lets forget about what happened to first runner up.
It's given that winner gets total of 6000
thus, x/2=6000
x=12,000
@gmat740 there is no need to go any further after this is clear.....that will only waste our time.
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by sanju09 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:20 am
NethraN wrote:Yes buddy I agree with sureshbala's approach completely but then it will be a wayyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooo easy question for GMAT isnt it?

So I am just going one step ahead and asking what would be the case if 7,500 was also in the answer choice.

Lets forget about what happened to first runner up.
It's given that winner gets total of 6000
thus, x/2=6000
x=12,000
GMAT incorporates some easy stuffs as well, which may prove out to be difficult if we were simply not expecting those to be sitters, that is again a kind of trap that GMAT throws quite oftenly. Had there been a choice reading '$7,500', that could only have been a wrong choice to pick because it is pretty obvious to understand 'the total prize money given away' and 'the total prize money on stake' as the same unless categorically stated otherwise; let's not assume phantoms in all dark tunnels especially while answering a GMAT question. :)

@gmat740 there is no need to go any further after this is clear.....that will only waste our time.
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by NethraN » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:15 am
Agreed....sometimes we tend to put ourselves in trouble.

The first thing that came to my mind was :shock: how can this be a GMAT question it is so simple and then i tried to read between lines :(....as u said its just made wordy to confuse us.
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by gmat740 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:34 am
Hello Everyone
@gmat740 there is no need to go any further after this is clear.....that will only waste our time.

I was not digging more into the question, I was solving the way I solved it at first Glance.

It was an Obvious Question and moreover it could have been better if they asked for the prize money of the 1st Runner-Up

Whatever Information was given was sufficient to solve without any ambiguity.
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