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Fractions

by vinviper1 » Wed May 28, 2008 8:45 am
Mary has 29 1/2 yards of material available to make uniforms. Each uniform requires 3/4 yard of material. How many uniforms can she make and how much material will she have left?
A 39 with 1/3 yard left over
B 39 with 1/4 yard left over
C 39 with 1/2 yard left over
D 27 with 1/3 yard left over
E 27 with 1/2 yard left over

Thanks!
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by sm612 » Wed May 28, 2008 8:57 am
29 1/2=59/2

so, total nbr of dresses:-
(59/2)/(3/4)=39.32
which is 39 dresses and 1/3 yard left.
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by agatka16 » Wed May 28, 2008 8:58 am
29 1/2=59/2=118/4
118:3=39 1/3

Answer A?
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by AleksandrM » Wed May 28, 2008 9:46 am
I got A. What's the OA?
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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Wed May 28, 2008 12:02 pm
agatka16 wrote:29 1/2=59/2=118/4
118:3=39 1/3

Answer A?
You're correct that you make 39 and 1/3 dresses.

HOWEVER, each dress is 3/4 of a yard. So 1/3 of a dress is actually 1/3(3/4) = 1/4 of a yard of cloth.

Therefore, the correct answer is (b).

Step (4) of the Kaplan method for PS is to double check your answer to see if it makes sense - if we're dealing with 1/2 a yard and then 1/4s of a yard, how can we possibly get 1/3 as an answer?
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by egybs » Wed May 28, 2008 12:51 pm
Answer isn't A....

We immediately know that there are 39 full uniforms by looking at the possible choices... 27 would obviously be too few uniforms to make with 29.5 yards of material.

So 39*(3/4) = 30-3/4 = 29.25

We have 29.5 yards so 29.5-29.25 = 1/4

Therefore we have 39 uniforms and 1/4 of a yard left over.

B.
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by netigen » Wed May 28, 2008 1:16 pm
A simpler approach will be to just look at the answers:

Ans can not be 27 something so the Ans has to be 39 something

Multiply 39 x 3/4 = 29 1/4

so to make 39 dresses you need 29.25 yard cloth hence you make 39 dresses and are left with 1/4 yard cloth
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by egybs » Wed May 28, 2008 1:19 pm
That's what I just did above....
netigen wrote:A simpler approach will be to just look at the answers:

Ans can not be 27 something so the Ans has to be 39 something

Multiply 39 x 3/4 = 29 1/4

so to make 39 dresses you need 29.25 yard cloth hence you make 39 dresses and are left with 1/4 yard cloth
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Could you explain ?

by gmataspirant » Thu May 29, 2008 10:05 am
Hey Netigen,

Though your explaination sounds logical, It is not convincing for me.

Total # of Yards : 29 1/2 = 29.50
Each Cloth Requires : 3/4 => .75

# of Clothes = 29.50 / .75 = 39.33 which is equivalent to 39 clothes and 1/3 yards of remaining cloth.

What's wrong with my approach ? Could you please explain ?

I must be missing some basic concepts.
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by gmataspirant » Thu May 29, 2008 10:10 am
You're correct that you make 39 and 1/3 dresses.

HOWEVER, each dress is 3/4 of a yard. So 1/3 of a dress is actually 1/3(3/4) = 1/4 of a yard of cloth.

Therefore, the correct answer is (b).

Step (4) of the Kaplan method for PS is to double check your answer to see if it makes sense - if we're dealing with 1/2 a yard and then 1/4s of a yard, how can we possibly get 1/3 as an answer?
I didn't read this explaination, I got it now.[/quote]
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Re: Could you explain ?

by aatech » Thu May 29, 2008 10:37 am
gmataspirant wrote:Hey Netigen,

Though your explaination sounds logical, It is not convincing for me.

Total # of Yards : 29 1/2 = 29.50
Each Cloth Requires : 3/4 => .75

# of Clothes = 29.50 / .75 = 39.33 which is equivalent to 39 clothes and 1/3 yards of remaining cloth.

What's wrong with my approach ? Could you please explain ?

I must be missing some basic concepts.
What you calculated is remaining dress.. The Q is asking about remaining yards of the cloth that would be (1/3)*(3/4) = 1/4
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