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saadishah: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 17; Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:19 am; Thanked: 1 times

Word Problem

by saadishah » Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:36 am

Happy New Year Guys!

I have come across this word problem with the solution. However, do not follow a few steps in the solution. May I request you to solve it for me with explanations on how to you are going about it.

Q: The length of a rectangular garden surrounded by a walkway is twice its width. If difference between the length and width of just the rectangular garden is 10 meters, what will be the width of the walkway if just the garden has width 6 meters?

Again, Happy New Year!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:36 am

MartyMurray: Legendary Member; Posts: 2135; Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am; Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/; Thanked: 955 times; Followed by:140 members; GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:02 am

saadishah wrote:
Q: The length of a rectangular garden surrounded by a walkway is twice its width. If difference between the length and width of just the rectangular garden is 10 meters, what will be the width of the walkway if just the garden has width 6 meters?

Start with what we know. The width of just the garden is 6.

The length of just the garden is 6 + 10 = 16

The width of the walkway = x.

The walkway is on all sides, so it shows up twice in the length and the width.

Width of entire thing is 6 + 2x.

Length of entire thing is 16 + 2x.

The length of the entire thing is twice the width. Only one walkway width, x, will work.

16 + 2x = 2(6 + 2x)

16 + 2x = 12 + 4x

4 = 2x

2 = x = width of the walkway

Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.

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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

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:01 am

This is actually a DS question. Here's the original wording:

What is the length in meters of a certain rectangular garden?

(1) The length of the garden is 6 meters more than twice the width.

(2) The length of the garden is 4 times the width

Let L = length of garden
Let W = width of garden

Target question: What is the value of L?

Statement 1: The length of the garden is 6 meters more than twice the width.
In other words, L = 2W + 6
Since this equation does not provide sufficient information to find the value of L, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: The length of the garden is 4 times the width
In other words, L = 4W
Since this equation does not provide sufficient information to find the value of L, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statements 1 and 2 combined:
We now know that:
L = 2W + 6
L = 4W
Since both equations equal L, we can write: 2W + 6 = 4W
Rearrange: 6 = 2W
Solve: 3 = W

If W = 3, then L = 12
Since we can now answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are SUFFICIENT

Answer = C

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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Sci45: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 10; Joined: Mon May 22, 2017 3:04 pm

by Sci45 » Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:48 pm

Marty Murray wrote:
saadishah wrote:
Q: The length of a rectangular garden surrounded by a walkway is twice its width. If difference between the length and width of just the rectangular garden is 10 meters, what will be the width of the walkway if just the garden has width 6 meters?
Start with what we know. The width of just the garden is 6.

The length of just the garden is 6 + 10 = 16

The width of the walkway = x.

The walkway is on all sides, so it shows up twice in the length and the width.

Width of entire thing is 6 + 2x.

Length of entire thing is 16 + 2x.

The length of the entire thing is twice the width. Only one walkway width, x, will work.

16 + 2x = 2(6 + 2x)

16 + 2x = 12 + 4x

4 = 2x

2 = x = width of the walkway

I am struggling to understand what the heck is a walkway.... Anyone has a picture? Is it just another rectangle surrounding the garden? In that case, wouldn't the walkway's width and length be equal to the entire thing's w and l?

I m

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Sci45: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 10; Joined: Mon May 22, 2017 3:04 pm

by Sci45 » Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:48 pm

Marty Murray wrote:
saadishah wrote:
Q: The length of a rectangular garden surrounded by a walkway is twice its width. If difference between the length and width of just the rectangular garden is 10 meters, what will be the width of the walkway if just the garden has width 6 meters?
Start with what we know. The width of just the garden is 6.

The length of just the garden is 6 + 10 = 16

The width of the walkway = x.

The walkway is on all sides, so it shows up twice in the length and the width.

Width of entire thing is 6 + 2x.

Length of entire thing is 16 + 2x.

The length of the entire thing is twice the width. Only one walkway width, x, will work.

16 + 2x = 2(6 + 2x)

16 + 2x = 12 + 4x

4 = 2x

2 = x = width of the walkway

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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

by Jay@ManhattanReview » Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:39 pm

Sci45 wrote:
Marty Murray wrote:
saadishah wrote:
Q: The length of a rectangular garden surrounded by a walkway is twice its width. If difference between the length and width of just the rectangular garden is 10 meters, what will be the width of the walkway if just the garden has width 6 meters?
Start with what we know. The width of just the garden is 6.

The length of just the garden is 6 + 10 = 16

The width of the walkway = x.

The walkway is on all sides, so it shows up twice in the length and the width.

Width of entire thing is 6 + 2x.

Length of entire thing is 16 + 2x.

The length of the entire thing is twice the width. Only one walkway width, x, will work.

16 + 2x = 2(6 + 2x)

16 + 2x = 12 + 4x

4 = 2x

2 = x = width of the walkway
I am struggling to understand what the heck is a walkway.... Anyone has a picture? Is it just another rectangle surrounding the garden? In that case, wouldn't the walkway's width and length be equal to the entire thing's w and l?

Yes, it is just another rectangle surrounding the garden. The walkway's width and length be equal to the entire thing's w and l, where w = width of rectangular garden + 2*width of the walkway, and l = length of rectangular garden + 2*width of the walkway.

Hope it is clear. Pl. see the image attached.

-Jay
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: Rectangular garden with a walkway

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Matt@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2630; Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:32 pm; Location: East Bay all the way; Thanked: 625 times; Followed by:119 members; GMAT Score:780

by Matt@VeritasPrep » Wed Jul 05, 2017 1:10 am

Sci45 wrote:[
I am struggling to understand what the heck is a walkway.... Anyone has a picture? Is it just another rectangle surrounding the garden? In that case, wouldn't the walkway's width and length be equal to the entire thing's w and l?

Think of the frame around a painting. The frame is the walkway and the painting is the garden.

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