MGMAT Algebraic translation word problem

Expert replies

abhi75: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 105; Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:57 am; Thanked: 3 times

by abhi75 » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:25 am

A number of apples and oranges are to be distributed evenly among a number of baskets. Each basket will contain at least one of each type of fruit. If there are 20 oranges to be distributed, what is the minimum number of apples needed so that every basket contains less than twice as many apples as oranges?

(1) If the number of baskets were halved and all other conditions remained the same, there would be twice as many oranges in every remaining basket.

(2) If the number of oranges were halved, it would no longer be possible to place an orange in every basket.

Can someone please explain this.

I will post the OA

Source: Beat The GMAT — Data Sufficiency | Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:25 am

xilef: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 111; Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:05 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 18 times

by xilef » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:56 pm

The way I see it:

I - You can have 20 baskets with 20 oranges and then 10 baskets with 20 oranges or 10 baskets with 20 and then 5 with 20. so number 1 is INSUFF

II - tells us that there are more than 10 baskets. Assuming that we have to distribute ALL the oranges, the only way to do it evenly is with 20 baskets. Now we know how many oranges per basket, so we can find the number of apples to satisfy the condition. SUFF

is OA B?

abhi75: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 105; Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:57 am; Thanked: 3 times

by abhi75 » Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:46 pm

Thanks for the reply xilef. The correct answer is B.

I guess the part that I didnt understand was that every basket should contain less than twice as many apples as oranges.

According to B, there should be 20 baskets so how many apples we would need to satisfy the above condition. If we need 20 apples than how would that satisfy the above condition.

Sorry for the confusion. Can someone please clarify - maybe I didnt understand the question/condition properly.

xilef: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 111; Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:05 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 18 times

by xilef » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:33 am

Well, B suggests that we have 1 orange per basket, so if we have 40 apples, the ratio of apples to oranges will be 2 to 1. But the questions asks for the number of apples that results in the ratio less than 2 to 1. So if we have one orange and one apple, the ratio will be 1 to 1, which is less than twice as many apples as oranges. Min number of apples is 20.

gmat765: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 58; Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:51 pm

by gmat765 » Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:52 pm

I will go with B definitely

Sharbel: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 17; Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:51 am; Location: Saudi Arabia

by Sharbel » Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:41 am

Hi

sorry but "less than twice as may apples as oranges" means that apples are less than oranges or the opposite???

i am not a native English speaker so this gets me confused

Sharbel Nasr

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