Problem Solving

Hi can anyone help me with this :

At a certain college there were twice as many English majors as History majors and three times as many English majors as Math majors. What is the ratio of the number of History majors to the number of Math major?

a.6 to 1
a.3 to 2
c.2 to 3
d.1 to 5
e.1 to 6

I have another doubt with the above quest.

Doesn't it mean 2E=H and 3E=M ?

This means

2H=E 3M=E

Ratiowise:

H/E = 1/2 M/E = 1/3

For example lets say the History major's are 3 then the English majors will be 6 (twice as history i.e 2*3 which comes to 6 English majors) and math majors will be 2(3 times math = English which comes to 6 also)

Hope this helps; let me know if u still have questions.

Regards,
Cramya

IMO twice as many English majors as History => 2E = H

Twice as many English = 2E
as history--> '=H'

Thrice as many English as Maths => 3E = M

E = H/2
E = M/3

H/2 = M/3
H/M = 2/3

IMO C.

Mals24, I would have to differ from u on that one.

P.S Stop checking SC here


The answer would be B) 3 to 2

Look at it this way. There are only 2 english majors for every history majoe whereas there are 3 english majors for every math major. This tells us that there should be more history majors than math majors leading us to 3 to 2

Hope I am correct and hope this helps also.

At a certain college there were twice as many English majors as History majors and three times as many English majors as Math majors. What is the ratio of the number of History majors to the number of Math major?

I plugged in numbers for this one:

# of English Majors = 300
# of History Majors = 150
# of Math Majors = 100

The ratio of the number of History majors to Math = 150/100 or 3:2

2:3 is the trap answer. GMAT... GMAT... GMAT

This is where it tries to get us and I have read that (not true at all times i.e not saying for all the questions they do this so - read in to this with some caution ) they put this right before the correct answer.

Hi Cramya
I still haven't understood the concept here . Can u please explain more that how are History majors greater than math major ?

OHH YESS twice as many english students as history means for every 2 english students there is 1 history student.

E:H = 2:1

I totally agree with you cramya I fell for the GMAT trap .

Thanks cramya and jnellaz.

Moral of the story: Don't solve maths sums at 2:52 in the morning!!!

PS: cramya I'll stop scrutinizing your grammar if you get my gender right and stop referring me as 'his'.

There are only 2 english majors for every history majors whereas there are 3 english majors for every math major. This tells us that there should be more history majors than math majors leading us to 3 to 2

let me try to explain it a different way. The English majors are constant i.e its being compared to his and math majors.

When u say one quantity (lets call it E) is only twice as big as another qauntity (H) but 3 times as big as some other quantity(M) then it follows H is more than M

Eg: 6(E) is twice as big as 3(H) whereas its 3 times as big as 2(M)

It follows that 3>2 i.e H>M

so 3M = 2H (u hv to mulyiply 3 a bigger number to M whereas u just need to multiply by 2(smaller than 3) with H to get the same numbernumber i.e 3M = 2H = some number)

M/H = 3/2

Hope this helps!

PS: cramya I'll stop scrutinizing your grammar if you get my gender right and stop referring me as 'his'.

I did; for sure I dont remember where. I got u now....

I guess with the id's its hard to recognize his/her, so I always try to put the name as it's would be insulting.....

Hey thank u people !!
I have finally understood the concept ! I was putting my SC logic !

Hi can anyone help me with another question (this was posted earlier but no response) :

For every positive even integer n, the function h(n) is defined as the product of all the even integers from 2 to n, inclusive. If p is the smallest prime factor of h(100)+1, then p is

a) Between 10 and 20
b) Between 20 and 30
c) Between 30 and 40
d) Greater than 40
e) Less than 40

Hi Sheena,
Seriously, this is the most discussed question on this forum. If u search u will find close to atleast 100 different solution for it . Let us know if u still have questions.

Regards,
Cramya

Thanks Cramya !

I shall search for the same question and get back if i stii have any doubts

Regards
Sheena

jnellaz explanation was very good. Even I had fallen for the GMAT trap and picked C as the answer. I had done such a foolish thing. I hope I dont do it on the real GMAT.