Word Problem

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BTGmoderatorRO: Moderator; Posts: 772; Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:29 pmFollowed by: 6 members

by BTGmoderatorRO » Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:11 pm

At Springfield High, three-fourths of the male students and one-half of the female students speak a foreign language. If the number of males is two-thirds the number of females, what fraction of the students speak a foreign language?

A. 1/3
B. 2/3
C. 1/2
D. 4/3
E. 3/5

OA is E

I dislike word problems.Can an expert help somebody here?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:11 pm

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by [email protected] » Wed Dec 13, 2017 7:30 pm

Hi Roland2rule,

We're told that at Springfield High, 3/4 of the male students, 1/2 of the female students speak a foreign language and the number of males is 2/3 the number of females. We're asked for the fraction of students that speak a foreign language. This question can be solved by TESTing VALUES.

Let's TEST....
300 females and 200 males = 500 total students

3/4 of males = (3/4)(200) = 150 males speak a foreign language
1/2 of females = (1/2)(300) = 150 females speak a foreign language
(150+150)/500 = 300/500 = 3/5 of students speak a foreign language

Final Answer: E

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8144; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 amFollowed by: 29 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Tue Sep 24, 2019 2:38 pm

BTGmoderatorRO wrote:At Springfield High, three-fourths of the male students and one-half of the female students speak a foreign language. If the number of males is two-thirds the number of females, what fraction of the students speak a foreign language?

A. 1/3
B. 2/3
C. 1/2
D. 4/3
E. 3/5

OA is E

I dislike word problems.Can an expert help somebody here?

We can let there be 12 females and 8 males.

Thus, 6 males and 6 females speak a foreign language.

So, 12/20 = 3/5 of the students speak a foreign language.

Answer: E

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

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