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Word problem?

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by eracnos » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:40 am
Hi guyz

Question:

Of the job applications received by a company, 1/5 are from applicants with fewer than two years of job experience, and 2/5 are from applicants with at least five years of job experience. If the company will accept all applicants with at least two years of job experience, what fraction of the accepted applicants had fewer than five years of job experience?

A. 1/5
B. 2/5
C. 1/2
D 3/5
E 2/3

My answer is C (1/2).
< 2 years is 1/5
> 2 years, but < 5 years is 2/5
> 5 years is 2/5
So 2/5 + 2/5 = 4/5
and 2/5 : 4/5 = 1/2 = C??

My teacher gave me wrong for this question. The correct answer is
D
What is wrong with my logic (I am international so maybe it's an English problem?)
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by vishubn » Tue Nov 11, 2008 5:21 pm
we are dealing with the numbers like 1/5 2/5...
first hint is probably to choose the number which is multiple of 5
assumne num of app =100

1/5=20 < 2

so remaing 80 >2

2/5=40

80 is app is accepted

and in the applicants <5 is 40
40/80=1/2

here i get the same as u !!

I dont see anything wrong here(acc to me atleast)

neone to correct/comments??
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by cramya » Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:04 pm
I agree with 1/2. I must be missing some trick in the wording if the answer is indeed 3/5.


Eracnos,
Whats the source?
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by jaybrium » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:07 am
I also feel that C (1/2) is the correct answer, but I went with picking numbers:

1/5 - X < 2
2/5 - X > (or equal) 5; therefore
2/5 2 < (or equal) x < 5

since the fractions are 1/5, 2/5, and 2/5, to make things easy, I selected 125 as the number of applicants (5 x 5 x 5); therefore

1/5 = 25
2/5 = 50
2/5 = 50

100 applicants were accepted, 50 of these applicants had less than 5 years work experience 50/100 = 1/2 = C

Unfortunately I haven't solved the original mystery as to why C is incorrect, but I figured posting picking numbers as an alt. method would be useful.
- Jay
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by eracnos » Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:47 pm
Well I am taking GMAT course now and it was a part of our mid-term test ........ :-?? My teacher told me that it is a wording problem, and promised she would tell me why next week.... I cannot get it why:(( I thought u guyz could help me :((
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by logitech » Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:09 pm
We betrayed you man! We suck.

Meanwhile please make sure that you did not do anything wrong with copy pasting the question. All of these people are putting their time and effort to help you and we expect you to post proper questions. I am hoping that I am wrong about a typo in your question.
LGTCH
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by eracnos » Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:22 pm
WEll i rechecked it 4 times>.< so it is not a typo, at least mine.
Maybe next week my teacher will tell me that it was her typo ... =)
MAYbe so wait till the next week) thx u very much !
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by earth@work » Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:13 pm
me too 1/2
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Re: Word problem?

by muzali » Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:20 pm
eracnos wrote:Hi guyz

Question:

Of the job applications received by a company, 1/5 are from applicants with fewer than two years of job experience, and 2/5 are from applicants with at least five years of job experience. If the company will accept all applicants with at least two years of job experience, what fraction of the accepted applicants had fewer than five years of job experience?

A. 1/5
B. 2/5
C. 1/2
D 3/5
E 2/3

My answer is C (1/2).
< 2 years is 1/5
> 2 years, but < 5 years is 2/5
> 5 years is 2/5
So 2/5 + 2/5 = 4/5
and 2/5 : 4/5 = 1/2 = C??

My teacher gave me wrong for this question. The correct answer is
D
What is wrong with my logic (I am international so maybe it's an English
problem?)
2/5 of applicants have at least 5 yrs exp.
Therefore, people with less than 5 years exp = 1-(2/5) = 3/5. The other info in the question is not needed.
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Re: Word problem?

by logitech » Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:37 pm
muzali wrote:
eracnos wrote:Hi guyz

Question:

Of the job applications received by a company, 1/5 are from applicants with fewer than two years of job experience, and 2/5 are from applicants with at least five years of job experience. If the company will accept all applicants with at least two years of job experience, what fraction of the accepted applicants had fewer than five years of job experience?

A. 1/5
B. 2/5
C. 1/2
D 3/5
E 2/3

My answer is C (1/2).
< 2 years is 1/5
> 2 years, but < 5 years is 2/5
> 5 years is 2/5
So 2/5 + 2/5 = 4/5
and 2/5 : 4/5 = 1/2 = C??

My teacher gave me wrong for this question. The correct answer is
D
What is wrong with my logic (I am international so maybe it's an English
problem?)
2/5 of applicants have at least 5 yrs exp.
Therefore, people with less than 5 years exp = 1-(2/5) = 3/5. The other info in the question is not needed.
Easy tiger ;-)

what fraction of the accepted applicants had fewer than five years of job experience?

Not all 3/5 are accepted.
LGTCH
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by eracnos » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:08 pm
can u clarify for me what's wrong?
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