Motorists exceeding speed limit- Percents

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On a certain road 10 percent of the motorists exceed the posted speed limit and receive speeding tickets, but 20 percent of the motorists who exceed the posted speed limit do not receive speeding tickets. What percent of the motorists on the road exceed the posted speed limit?

(A) 10 1/2 %
(B) 12 1/2 %
(C) 15%
(D) 22%
(E) 30%

OA is B.

Source- Practice Test Code 25 by GMAT
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Bharat.
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by mevicks » Sat Nov 02, 2013 6:01 am
pareekbharat86 wrote:On a certain road 10 percent of the motorists exceed the posted speed limit and receive speeding tickets, but 20 percent of the motorists who exceed the posted speed limit do not receive speeding tickets. What percent of the motorists on the road exceed the posted speed limit?

(A) 10 1/2 %
(B) 12 1/2 %
(C) 15%
(D) 22%
(E) 30%
Assume the total number to be 100 (as everything is in percentages)

Use a double matrix to quickly assess the situation:
Image

We need to find out the value of x

Given: 0.8x = 10 --> x = 12.5

Answer [spoiler](B) 12 1/2 %[/spoiler]

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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Nov 02, 2013 6:18 am
on a certain road 10% of the mototorist exceed the posted limit and receive speeding tickets, but 20% of the motorists who exceed the posted speedlimit do not receive speeding ticket. What percent of the motorists on the road exceed the posted speed limit?
A) 10.5%
B) 12.5%
C) 15%
D) 22%
E) 30%
Let motorists who exceed the speed limit = 10.
Motorists who don't receive a ticket = .2*10 = 2.
Thus, motorists who receive a ticket = 10-2 = 8.
Since these 8 motorists who exceed the speed limit and receive a ticket are 10% of the total, total = 80. (8 is 10% of 80.)
Thus:
(exceed the speed limit)/(total) = 10/80 = 12.5%.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Nov 02, 2013 7:11 am
pareekbharat86 wrote:On a certain road 10 percent of the motorists exceed the posted speed limit and receive speeding tickets, but 20 percent of the motorists who exceed the posted speed limit do not receive speeding tickets. What percent of the motorists on the road exceed the posted speed limit?

(A) 10 1/2 %
(B) 12 1/2 %
(C) 15%
(D) 22%
(E) 30%
Mevick's Double Matrix approach is great. Here's a slightly different version that also works.

First off, I'll mention that the Double Matrix Method can be used for most questions featuring a population in which each member has two characteristics associated with it.
Here, we have a population of motorists, and the two characteristics are:
- speeder (S) or non-speeder (~S)
- get ticket (T) or not get ticket (~T)

Aside: To learn more about the Double Matrix Method, watch our free video: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... ems?id=919

Since this question concerns percents (instead of actual values), let's assign a "nice" value to the total number of motorists in this population. Let's say there are 100 motorists.

So, to begin, our matrix looks like this.
Image

10 percent of the motorists exceed the posted speed limit and receive speeding tickets
The top left box is for motorists who speed and receive speeding tickets. So, 10% of the entire population will be in this box.
Image

20 percent of the motorists who exceed the posted speed limit do not receive speeding tickets.
The motorists referred to here are those who go in the top right box. Unfortunately, we don't know the total number of speeders, so we can't find 20% of that value.
So, let's let x = the total number of speeders.
Image

Now we can deal with this: 20 percent of the motorists who exceed the posted speed limit do not receive speeding tickets.
In other words, 20% of x will go in the top right box.
Image

At this point, we know that the sum of the top 2 boxes is x.
So, we can write: 10 + 0.2x = x (now solve)
Arrange: 10 = 0.8x
Divide: 10/0.8 = x
12.5 = x

Since x represents the total number of speeders, we know that 12.5 out of 100 motorists speed.
In other words, [spoiler]12.5%[/spoiler] of motorists speed.
Answer: B


Here are some additional practice questions that can be solved using the Double Matrix Method:
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/05/ ... question-1
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/05/ ... question-2
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/05/ ... question-3
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/ds-quest-t187706.html
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/overlapping- ... 83320.html
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/finance-majo ... 67425.html
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/ds-french-ja ... 22297.html

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by pareekbharat86 » Sun Nov 03, 2013 2:30 am
Thanks all of you.

I was not interpreting the question correctly.
Thanks,
Bharat.