I ran into this on the gmatpill prep test
"There are 1,200 golf balls in a golf ball dispensing machine. The probability that the ball has a red
stripe is 1/9th the probability that the golf ball has no stripe. How many of the golf balls in the
dispensing machine have a red stripe?
a)108
b)120
c)150
d)251
e)320 "
red stripe golf ball
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- sanju09
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This question is based on this assumption that there are only two types of golf balls in the dispensing machine, red stripe and no stripe. Hence, if p is the probability that the golf ball has no stripe, then p/9 is the probability that the ball has a red stripe. In that case, ratio in the two probabilities would also represent the ratio in their respective numbers present in the dispensing machine.Jay92 wrote:I ran into this on the gmatpill prep test
"There are 1,200 golf balls in a golf ball dispensing machine. The probability that the ball has a red
stripe is 1/9th the probability that the golf ball has no stripe. How many of the golf balls in the
dispensing machine have a red stripe?
a)108
b)120
c)150
d)251
e)320 "
Using the ratio in the number of no stripe to number of red stripe as p: (p/9) = 9:1, we get the number of the golf balls in the dispensing machine having a red stripe
= [spoiler](1/10) × 1200 = 120.
Choose B[/spoiler]
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- GMATGuruNY
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The prompt should make it clear that each ball has either a red stripe or no stripe, as follows:
In other words, the number of balls with no stripe is 9 times the number of balls with a red stripe.
Implication:
There are 9 balls with no stripe for every 1 ball with a red stripe.
Thus, of every 10 balls, 1 will have a red stripe, implying that the balls with a red stripe constitute 1/10 of the total number of balls:
(1/10)(1200) = 120.
The correct answer is B.
The probability that the ball has a red stripe is 1/9th the probability that the ball has no stripe.There are 1,200 golf balls in a golf ball dispensing machine. Each of the golf balls in the machine has either a red stripe or no stripe. If a ball is chosen at random, the probability that the ball has a red stripe is 1/9th the probability that the ball has no stripe. How many of the golf balls in the dispensing machine have a red stripe?
a)108
b)120
c)150
d)251
e)320
In other words, the number of balls with no stripe is 9 times the number of balls with a red stripe.
Implication:
There are 9 balls with no stripe for every 1 ball with a red stripe.
Thus, of every 10 balls, 1 will have a red stripe, implying that the balls with a red stripe constitute 1/10 of the total number of balls:
(1/10)(1200) = 120.
The correct answer is B.
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Another approach is to TEST the answer choices.There are 1,200 golf balls in a golf ball dispensing machine. Each of the golf balls in the machine has either a red stripe or no stripe. If a ball is chosen at random, the probability that the ball has a red stripe is 1/9th the probability that the ball has no stripe. How many of the golf balls in the dispensing machine have a red stripe?
a)108
b)120
c)150
d)251
e)320
The probability that the ball has a red stripe is 1/9th the probability that the ball has no stripe.
This tells us that the number of striped balls is 1/9 the number of balls with no strip.
Or we can say that the number of balls with no stripe is 9 TIMES the number of striped balls.
Now let's test the answer choices.
A) 108
If there are 108 striped balls, then the number of balls with no stripe = 1200 - 108 = 1092
1092 is NOT equal to 9 TIMES 108
Eliminate A
B) 120
If there are 120striped balls, then the number of balls with no stripe = 1200 - 120= 1080
1080 IS equal to 9 TIMES 120
Perfect!
The correct answer is B
Cheers,
Brent