Mike@Magoosh wrote:

yumi2012 wrote:Totally clueless with this chart-involved IR question.. Thanks in advance.

Dear Yumi,
I'm happy to help.

You may find this blog informative:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-ir-nu ... -problems/

Let's just follow this through, step-by-step. We have to keep track of three variables: T, a, and b. I just suggest a notation of (T, a, b), so that at each step we are aware of all three values.

I'll just point out --- any "process" with an equation in it, such as b = b/2 --- the value on the left is the new value of that variable, and the values on the right are the old values. The process b = b/2 means: the new value of b is the old value of b divided by 2, or, more simply, "divide b by 2."


First problem
START
T = 0, then we enter a = 24 and b = 35, so we are have (0, 24, 35).
Question: Is b odd? Yes, 35 is odd, so we follow the "yes" arrow up. Still at (0, 24, 35).
The box with the equation T = T + a means --- the new value of T equals the old value of T plus the value of a. Thus, T = 0 + 24 = 24. Now, are values are (24, 24, 35).
OK, we have reached our first non-zero value of T, which is T = 24, so we are done with the first question.

Second problem
START
T = 0, then we enter a = 35 and b = 27, so we are have (0, 35, 27).
Question: Is b odd? Yes, 27 is odd, so follow the "yes" arrow up. Still at (0, 35, 27).
Then, T = T + a, so T = 0 + 35 = 35. Now, we are at (35, 35, 27).
Then, b = b - 1, so b = 27 - 1 = 26. Now, we are at (35, 35, 26).
Then, a = 2a, so a = 2*35 = 70. Now, we are at (35, 70, 26).
Then, b = b/2, so b = 26/2 = 13. Now, we are at (35, 70, 13). (This is FIRST time we pass through this process)
Question: Is b = 1? No, b = 13. Follow the long "no" arrow. We are still at (35, 70, 13).
Question: Is b odd? Yes, 13 is odd, so follow the "yes" arrow up. Still at (35, 70, 13).
Then, T = T + a, so T = 35 + 70 = 105. Now, we are at (105, 70, 13).
Then, b = b - 1, so b = 13 - 1 = 12. Now, we are at (105, 70, 12).
Then, a = 2a, so a = 2*70 = 140. Now, we are at (105, 140, 12).
Then, b = b/2, so b = 12/2 = 6. Now, we are at (105, 140, 6). (This is SECOND time we pass through this process)
After the second time of passing through the b = b/2 process, b = 6.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Poisson wrote: Thank you so much. This really wasn't that bad after I took it step by step. Could you please recommend the best way to organize this data on a the notepad? Would you recommend certain column headers?