ratio of rectangle sides

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:50 am
Followed by:1 members

ratio of rectangle sides

by LulaBrazilia » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:14 am
Image

In the figure above, what is the ratio KN/MN ?

1) The perimeter of rectangle KLMN is 30 meters.

2) The three small rectangles have the same dimensions.

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1052
Joined: Fri May 21, 2010 1:30 am
Thanked: 335 times
Followed by:98 members

by Patrick_GMATFix » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:45 am
statement 1 just tells us that 2(KN + MN) = 30. We can come up with a lot of values for KN and MN that would result in different ratios, so that statement is not helpful. Statement 2 is more interesting. If all the rectangles are the same, we can start to label sides using only two variables (for width and length) and perhaps even find out the ratio KN/MN. The full solution below is taken from the GMATFix App.

Image

-Patrick
  • Ask me about tutoring.

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 16207
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC
Thanked: 5254 times
Followed by:1268 members
GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:02 am
LulaBrazilia wrote:Image

In the figure above, what is the ratio KN/MN?

1) The perimeter of rectangle KLMN is 30 meters.

2) The three small rectangles have the same dimensions.
Target question: what is the ratio KN/MN?

Statement 1: The perimeter of rectangle KLMN is 30 meters.
This doesn't tell us much. Consider these two possible cases (among many)
case a:
Image
Here the ratio KN/MN = 1/14

case b:
Image
Here the ratio KN/MN = 7/8
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: The three small rectangles have the same dimensions.
Let x = length of shorter side of 1 rectangle:
Image

Since 3 rectangles have the same dimensions, we can add x to another side:
Image

Notice that that this means that side KN has length 2x.
Image

Since 3 rectangles have the same dimensions, we can add 2x to another side:
Image

At this point, we can see that side MN has length 3x
Image

From here, we can see that the ratio KN/MN = 2x/3x = 2/3
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT

Answer = B

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
Image