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fruti_yum: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 128; Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:46 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by fruti_yum » Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:13 pm

Working simultaneously and independently at an identical constant rate, 4 machines of a certain type can produce a total of x units of product P in 6 days. How many of these machines, working simultaneously and independently at this constant rate, can produce a total of 3x units of product P in 4 days?

A. 24
B. 18
C. 16
D. 12
E. 8

OA is B

It's been posted b4 but i dont get any of the explanations..

thanks pls show your approach

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:13 pm

THE_BOSS: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:04 am; Thanked: 1 times

by THE_BOSS » Sun Aug 02, 2009 3:49 am

4(machines) * 6 (days) = x (products)-------> x= 24 (products)

3x = (3*24= 72) ----> M (machines) * 4 (days) = 72 (Products)

M (machines) = 72 (products) / 4 (days) = 18 (machines)----

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truplayer256: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 392; Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:52 pm; Location: New Jersey; Thanked: 76 times

by truplayer256 » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:14 am

I kind of solved this one like this:

4 machines can produce a total of x units of product P in 6 days. This means that the 4 machines can produce x/6 units of product P per day and each machine can produce x/24 units of product P per day. In order to find out how many machines would be needed to produce a total of 3x units of Product P in 4 days, we should realize that each machine has to make 3x/4 units of product P per day for 4 days. So:

x/24(y)=3x/4

y= The number of machines needed to produce a total of 3x units of Product P in 4 days.

y=18

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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:05 am

fruti_yum wrote:Working simultaneously and independently at an identical constant rate, 4 machines of a certain type can produce a total of x units of product P in 6 days. How many of these machines, working simultaneously and independently at this constant rate, can produce a total of 3x units of product P in 4 days?

A. 24
B. 18
C. 16
D. 12
E. 8

Let's assign a nice value to x (a value that will work well with all of the numbers 3, 4 and 6.

Let's say x = 24

GIVEN: 4 machines make x units in 6 days
This means 4 machines make 24 units in 6 days
So, 4 machines make 4 units in 1 day [if you divide the work time by 6, the output is also divided by 6]
So, 1 machine makes 1 unit in 1 day [if you divide the number of machines by 4, the output is also divided by 4]

From here, we can answer the question How many of these machines, working simultaneously and independently at this constant rate, can produce a total of 3x units of product P in 4 days?
If x = 24, 3x = 72
Our goal is to make 72 units in 4 days.

So, 1 machine makes 4 units in 4 days [if you multiply the work time by 4, the output is also multiplied by 4]
So, 18 machines make 72 units in 4 days [if you multiply the number of machines by 18, the output is also multiplied by 18]

Answer: B

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8151; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 amFollowed by: 29 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Fri Jun 14, 2019 9:41 am

fruti_yum wrote:Working simultaneously and independently at an identical constant rate, 4 machines of a certain type can produce a total of x units of product P in 6 days. How many of these machines, working simultaneously and independently at this constant rate, can produce a total of 3x units of product P in 4 days?

A. 24
B. 18
C. 16
D. 12
E. 8

We are given that 4 machines can complete x units in 6 days. Thus, the rate of the 4 machines is x/6.
Now, we need to determine the number of machines needed to produce a rate of 3x/4. To calculate that number of machines, we can use the following proportion in which the value in each numerator is the number of machines and the value in each denominator is the corresponding rate of those machines. We can let n = the number of machines needed:

4/(x/6) = n/(3x/4)

24/x = 4n/3x

72x = 4nx

18 = n

Alternate Solution:

If 4 machines can produce a total of x units of product P in 6 days, then 12 machines can produce 3x units of product P in 6 days. To find the number of machines needed to produce 3x units in 4 days, let's set up an inverse proportion, denoting the number of machines needed by n.

12 x 6 = 4 x n

n = 3 x 6 = 18

Answer: B

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

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