Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction

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BTGModeratorVI: Legendary Member; Posts: 1223; Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:23 pm; Followed by:1 members

Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction

by BTGModeratorVI » Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:00 am

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Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction of the other votes cast would she have needed in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast?

(A)1/5
(B)2/7
(C)3/10
(D)7/20
(E)1/2

Source: GMAT paper tests
Answer: B

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:00 am

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Jay@ManhattanReview: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3008; Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:19 am; Location: Grand Central / New York; Thanked: 470 times; Followed by:34 members

Re: Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction

by Jay@ManhattanReview » Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:02 pm

BTGModeratorVI wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:00 am
Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction of the other votes cast would she have needed in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast?

(A)1/5
(B)2/7
(C)3/10
(D)7/20
(E)1/2

Source: GMAT paper tests
Answer: B

Beth got 3/10 of the votes; to get 1/2 of the votes cast, she would need 1/2 – 3/10 = 2/10 = 1/5

Since Beth got 3/10 of the votes, remaining votes = 1 – 3/10 = 7/10

Thus, the fraction of the other votes cast would she have needed in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast = (1/5)/(7/10) = 2/7

The correct answer: B

Hope this helps!

-Jay
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GMAT/MBA Expert

Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; Followed by:1268 members; GMAT Score:770

Re: Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Feb 22, 2020 9:31 am

BTGModeratorVI wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:00 am
Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction of the other votes cast would she have needed in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast?

(A)1/5
(B)2/7
(C)3/10
(D)7/20
(E)1/2

Source: GMAT paper tests
Answer: B

Let's assign a "nice" value to the total number of votes cast.
We'll choose a number that works well with the given information.

Let's say that a total of 10 votes were cast.

Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election
3/10 of 10 = 3.
So, Beth received 3 votes

What fraction of the OTHER votes cast would she have needed in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast?
Receiving 1/2 of the votes would require Beth to get a total of 5 votes.
In other words, Beth would have needed 2 additional votes among the 7 people who didn't vote for her

Answer: 2/7 = B

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8086; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times; Followed by:29 members

Re: Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:14 am

BTGModeratorVI wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:00 am
Beth received 3/10 of the votes cast in a certain election. What fraction of the other votes cast would she have needed in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast?

(A)1/5
(B)2/7
(C)3/10
(D)7/20
(E)1/2

Source: GMAT paper tests
Answer: B

We can let the total number of votes cast = 100. Thus, Beth received 30 votes, and she must receive 20 of the remaining 70 votes in order to have received 1/2 of the votes cast. Therefore, she must receive 20/70 = 2/7 of the remaining votes.

Answer: B

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