• 5 Day FREE Trial
Study Smarter, Not Harder

Available with Beat the GMAT members only code

• Award-winning private GMAT tutoring
Register now and save up to $200 Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Magoosh Study with Magoosh GMAT prep Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • 5-Day Free Trial 5-day free, full-access trial TTP Quant Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Get 300+ Practice Questions 25 Video lessons and 6 Webinars for FREE Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Free Veritas GMAT Class Experience Lesson 1 Live Free Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • 1 Hour Free BEAT THE GMAT EXCLUSIVE Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Free Practice Test & Review How would you score if you took the GMAT Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • Free Trial & Practice Exam BEAT THE GMAT EXCLUSIVE Available with Beat the GMAT members only code • FREE GMAT Exam Know how you'd score today for$0

Available with Beat the GMAT members only code

# If the ratio of the present age of Anna and Paula is 3:4

tagged by: BTGmoderatorLU

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

## Global Stats

Difficult

If the ratio of the present age of Anna and Paula is 3:4, what could be the ratio of their respective ages after 8 years?

A. 1 : 2
B. 3 : 8
C. 3 : 5
D. 2 : 3
E. 4 : 5

The OA is E.

Source: e-GMAT

### GMAT/MBA Expert

GMAT Instructor
Joined
08 Dec 2008
Posted:
12121 messages
Followed by:
1237 members
5254
GMAT Score:
770
BTGmoderatorLU wrote:
If the ratio of the present age of Anna and Paula is 3 : 4, what could be the ratio of their respective ages after 8 years?

A. 1 : 2
B. 3 : 8
C. 3 : 5
D. 2 : 3
E. 4 : 5

The OA is E.

Source: e-GMAT
Here's a nice property of fractions: If a, b and k are positive, then (a + k)/(b + k) approaches 1 as k gets bigger.
For example, the fraction (2+11)/(3+11) is closer to 1 than 2/3 is.
Likewise, the fraction (1+7)/(2+7) is closer to 1 than 1/2 is.

Let A = Anna's present age
Let P = Paula's present age
So, A/P = 3/4

In EIGHT YEARS, we can conclude that:
Let A + 8= Anna's future age
Let P + 8 = Paula's future age
So, in EIGHT YEARS, the ratio of their ages = (A + 8)/(P + 8)

By the above rule, we know that (A + 8)/(P + 8) is closer to 1 than is A/P is.
In other words, (A + 8)/(P + 8) is closer to 1 than 3/4 is.

Only answer choice E (aka 4/5) is closer to 1 than 3/4 is.

Cheers,
Brent

_________________
Brent Hanneson – Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
Use our video course along with

And check out all of our free resources

GMAT Prep Now's comprehensive video course can be used in conjunction with Beat The GMAT’s FREE 60-Day Study Guide and reach your target score in 2 months!

### Top First Responders*

1 Jay@ManhattanReview 84 first replies
2 Brent@GMATPrepNow 73 first replies
3 fskilnik 50 first replies
4 GMATGuruNY 37 first replies
5 Rich.C@EMPOWERgma... 16 first replies
* Only counts replies to topics started in last 30 days
See More Top Beat The GMAT Members

### Most Active Experts

1 fskilnik

GMAT Teacher

199 posts
2 Brent@GMATPrepNow

GMAT Prep Now Teacher

166 posts
3 Scott@TargetTestPrep

Target Test Prep

118 posts
4 Jay@ManhattanReview

Manhattan Review

98 posts
5 Max@Math Revolution

Math Revolution

95 posts
See More Top Beat The GMAT Experts