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factory worker

by nidhis.1408 » Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:43 am
At a certain factory, each employee working the second shift produced 2/3 as many widgets as each employee working the first shift. If the first shift has 3/4 as many employees, what fraction of the total widgets did the second shift produce?

a. 8/17
b. 1/2
c. 8/9
d. 9/8
e. 17/8
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:52 am
Say there were 3 workers on the first shift who each produced 3 widgets, or 9 in total.

And, there are 4 workers on the second shift who each produced 2 widgets or 8.

The second shift produced 8 of 17, or A.
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by gmat6087 » Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:14 am
Jim@StratusPrep wrote:Say there were 3 workers on the first shift who each produced 3 widgets, or 9 in total.

And, there are 4 workers on the second shift who each produced 2 widgets or 8.

The second shift produced 8 of 17, or A.
Jim,

What does " first shift has 3/4 as many employees" mean is it the 1st shift has 3/4 of total employees?

Regards,
Satya.
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by Whitney Garner » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:32 am
gmat6087 wrote:What does " first shift has 3/4 as many employees" mean is it the 1st shift has 3/4 of total employees?
Hey Satya!

It actually means that this question wasn't written up to GMAT standards! If this were on the real test (or written by an official source), it would read:

"At a certain factory, each employee working the second shift produced 2/3 as many widgets as each employee working the first shift. If the first shift has 3/4 as many employees as the second shift, what fraction of the total widgets produced by both shifts did the second shift produce?"

So you were exactly right to be confused with the wording! Always be careful of material that doesn't provide the actual source!

Hope this helps!
:)
Whit
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by AIM TO CRACK GMAT » Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:07 pm
Jim@StratusPrep wrote:Say there were 3 workers on the first shift who each produced 3 widgets, or 9 in total.

And, there are 4 workers on the second shift who each produced 2 widgets or 8.

The second shift produced 8 of 17, or A.
Jim hav u plugged in the values or taken from the question itself... Also has "3/4 as many employees" been mentioned jus to confuse us?
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by gmat6087 » Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:13 pm
Whitney Garner wrote:
gmat6087 wrote:What does " first shift has 3/4 as many employees" mean is it the 1st shift has 3/4 of total employees?
Hey Satya!

It actually means that this question wasn't written up to GMAT standards! If this were on the real test (or written by an official source), it would read:

"At a certain factory, each employee working the second shift produced 2/3 as many widgets as each employee working the first shift. If the first shift has 3/4 as many employees as the second shift, what fraction of the total widgets produced by both shifts did the second shift produce?"

So you were exactly right to be confused with the wording! Always be careful of material that doesn't provide the actual source!

Hope this helps!
:)
Whit
Thanks a lot Whitney, for your response.
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