A bag of 216 camamels

This topic has expert replies
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:44 am

A bag of 216 camamels

by sumitrajsaxena » Fri May 14, 2010 5:41 am
Kindly see the following problem of quant PS.

A bag of 216 caramels is divided equally among a group of children. If 6 children were added to the group, each child would receive 3 fewer caramels. How many children are in the group?
Source: — Problem Solving |

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:03 am
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Thanked: 1 times
GMAT Score:610

by nicktimoshenko » Fri May 14, 2010 5:50 am
216 = n*x
216 = (n+6)*(x-3)

x = 216/n

216 = (n + 6)(216/n - 3)

slove equation and get the number of children
first attempt 540 (Q48 V17)
second attempt 610 (q47 v27)
my blog:
https://waytotopbs.blocked

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 613
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:17 am
Location: madrid
Thanked: 171 times
Followed by:64 members
GMAT Score:790

by kevincanspain » Fri May 14, 2010 7:35 am
sumitrajsaxena wrote:Kindly see the following problem of quant PS.

A bag of 216 caramels is divided equally among a group of children. If 6 children were added to the group, each child would receive 3 fewer caramels. How many children are in the group?
You could also look at the factors of 216: look for two that differ by 6 and whose quotients differ by 3.

216= 6^3 =2^3 x 3^3

18 x 12 , 24 x 9

18 children , 12 caramels each
24 children, 9 caramels each
Kevin Armstrong
GMAT Instructor
Gmatclasses
Madrid

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 362
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:18 am
Thanked: 26 times
Followed by:1 members

by indiantiger » Fri May 14, 2010 7:44 am
Let us say the group of children = N

given 216/N caramels per child

when 6 more children have been added
216/(N+6)

216/N-3 = 216/(N+6) [ subtract 3 from the initial per child caramel count to get the new per child caramel count]

216/N-216/(N+6) = 3

there are two ways you can solve this now

1) solve for N^2+6N-216 =0
givens two values = -24,18

2) if values are provided in the question substitute the values.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:44 am

by sumitrajsaxena » Fri May 14, 2010 8:26 am
Thanks guys for detailed explanations. I got it now.