S=sales revenue
N=novel revenue
B=bio revenue

.31S=N

1/3 of remaining revenue=.69S/3=.23S=B

N/B=.31S/.23S = approx 1.3

I may be wrong, but here is what I think:
31% is the revenue from the sales of novels. the rest of the revenue is 69% (100%-31%). 1/3 of 69% is 23% (69%/3).
so now we have to solve the ratio of 31%/23%. That equals to 1 and 8/23, which is closest to 1.3 among the answer choices.

Thanks to both of you guys - regor60 and djkvakin. All the best at cracking the GMAT!

irfan_m1973 wrote:Last year 31 percent of Ace Book Company's sales revenue came from the sale of novels. Of the remaining revenue, 1/3 was from the sale of biographies. The company's revenue from the sale of novels was approximately how many times its revenue from the sale of biographies?

(A) 1.3
(B) 1.5
(C) 2.1
(D) 2.5
(E) 3.1

Let, Total Revenue = 100
Revenue from Novels = 31

Remaining Revenue = 69

Of the remaining revenue, 1/3 was from the sale of biographies

i.e. Revenue from Biographies = (1/3)*69 = 23

Let, revenue from Novels = x times revenue from Biographies
i.e. 31 = x*23
x = 31/23 = 1.34

Answer: option A

irfan_m1973 wrote:Last year 31 percent of Ace Book Company's sales revenue came from the sale of novels. Of the remaining revenue, 1/3 was from the sale of biographies. The company's revenue from the sale of novels was approximately how many times its revenue from the sale of biographies?

(A) 1.3
(B) 1.5
(C) 2.1
(D) 2.5
(E) 3.1

We can let n = revenue from novels, b = revenue from biographies, and t = total revenue.

We are given that 31 percent of Ace Book Company's sales revenue came from the sale of novels. Thus:

0.31t = n

We are next given that 1/3 of the remaining revenue was from the sale of biographies. Since the remaining revenue is 0.69t, the revenue from biographies was:

0.69t x 1/3 = 0.23t

To determine how many times the revenue from novels was compared to the revenue from biographies, we can create the following equation in which k is the multiplier:

0.23t x k = 0.31t

k = 0.31t/0.23t

k = 31/23 = 1 8/23

The closest answer is 1.3.

Answer:A