Beta Corporation problem

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jfranco23: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 75; Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:00 pm; Thanked: 1 times; GMAT Score:550

by jfranco23 » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:48 pm

To be eligible for retirement benefits at the Beta Corp. the sum of an employee's age, in years, and the number of years of employment must be at last 70. If x, where x<70, is a certain employee's age when hired and y is the minimum number of years of employment required for the employee to be eligible for retirement benefits, which of the following equations represents the relationship between x and y?

A. xy=70
B. x+y=70
C. 2x+y=70
D. x+2y=70
E. 2x+2y=70

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:48 pm

DanaJ: Site Admin; Posts: 2567; Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:05 amFollowed by: 550 members; Thanked: 712 times; GMAT Score:770

by DanaJ » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:26 pm

Think of it this way:
x = age when hired
y = minimum number of years of employment before requesting retirement

Now, the problem tells us that (age when requesting retirement) + (number of years of employment) = 70.
The first element of this equation will be x + y = (age when hired) + (minimum years worked), since in this particular case the number of years worked will be equal to the minimum threshold.
The second one will obviously be y, since we're talking about the "minimum" case.
This makes the relationship between x and y: x + y + y = 70 or x + 2y = 70.
Go with D

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Vemuri: Legendary Member; Posts: 682; Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:40 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 32 times

by Vemuri » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:12 am

These kind of wordy problems really kill my GMAT score

I attempted this question the same way I would do in my real time test. I quickly glanced at my answer choices & tried to see if I could make any logical relationship. I opted for answer D in the end (don't have good reasons to state).

DanaJ: I am not sure I understood your explanation. I am not able to extract much information from the question to derive at the equations in the answer choices. Can anyone please give alternate explanations?

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mals24: Legendary Member; Posts: 683; Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:58 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Dubai; Thanked: 73 times

by mals24 » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:36 am

@vemuri

Ill just elaborate on DanaJ's explanation.

Question says: sum of an employee's age, in years, and the number of years of employment must be at least 70

Sum of employees age.

Say for instance: Max joined beta in 1975 when he was 20 yrs old. And he retires in 2005.

What is Max's age at time of retirement: 20 + number of yrs he worked.
= 20+30 = 50.

Apply same logic to the question.
x = age of the employee when he was hired.
y = minimum number of years of employment.

Sum of an employee's age when requesting for retirement = his age when he joined + minimum number of yrs he worked.
= x + y

minimum years of employment = y

We need to find an equation that tells us:

(age when requesting retirement) + (minimum number of years of employment) = 70.

So our equation will be: x+2y = 70

Thats all what DanaJ said

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Vemuri: Legendary Member; Posts: 682; Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:40 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 32 times

by Vemuri » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:33 am

mals24 wrote:We need to find an equation that tells us:

(age when requesting retirement) + (minimum number of years of employment) = 70.

So our equation will be: x+2y = 70

Thats all what DanaJ said

Thanks for your explanation mals24. Can you please explain how you derived the equation x+2y=70? I am not able to relate your verbage to the equation. I am sure being a dumbo here not understanding something obvious. Appreciate your explanation.

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mals24: Legendary Member; Posts: 683; Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:58 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Dubai; Thanked: 73 times

by mals24 » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:52 am

Firstly dont call yourself dumb if you cant understand anything. Its quite normal to be confused.

Given in the question:

To be eligible for retirement benefits at the Beta Corp. the sum of an employee's age, in years, and the number of years of employment must be at least 70.

ie, sum of an employee's age + minimum number of yrs of employment = 70 [which is what we have to find because this is the only equation that relates x and y].

Also given in the question:

x, where x<70, is a certain employee's age when hired
y is the minimum number of years of employment.

Now the equation has 2 parts, the green and the blue part.

sum of an employee's age

Sum of an employee's age when requesting for retirement = his age when he joined + minimum number of yrs he worked.

When the employee joined the company his age was 'x' (as given in the question).
minimum yrs he worked is 'y' (again given).

So sum of employee's age = x+y
Thats how we get one part of the equation.

Now the second part the blue part, which is:

minimum number of yrs of employment

This is given as 'y'.

Hence now our total equation = green part + blue part = (x +y) + y = x+2y

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Vemuri: Legendary Member; Posts: 682; Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:40 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 32 times

by Vemuri » Sat Mar 14, 2009 5:02 am

Thanks for being so patient & nice to me mals24

I was surely confused & hope that it doesn't happen to me on the D day. I need to get used to wordy questions.

Thanks to you, DanaJ & jfranco23 (for posting this question).

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