Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears : GMAT Data Sufficiency (DS)
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# Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears

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Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink]

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30 Oct 2007, 19:25
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Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for same amount of money?

(1) 1 pound of pears cost $0.5 more that 1 pound of apples (2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples [Reveal] Spoiler: OA Last edited by Bunuel on 27 Feb 2013, 06:13, edited 1 time in total. Edited the question and added the OA. Senior Manager Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 373 Followers: 1 Kudos [?]: 62 [3] , given: 0 Re: gmatprep DS- apples and pears [#permalink] ### Show Tags 30 Oct 2007, 19:41 3 This post received KUDOS 1 This post was BOOKMARKED trivikram wrote: r019h wrote: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for same amount of money? 1) 1 pound of pears cost$0.5 more that 1 pound of apples
2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples

B should be it

st. 1
cost of 1 pound of apples= $x cost of 1 pound pears=$x+0.5
5 pounds of apples for $5x and 5x/x+0.5 pounds of pears for$5x INSUFF

st. 2
1 pound of pears= $1.5x so 5x/1.5x pounds of pears for$5x= 5/1.5 approx= 3 pounds of pears
SUFF
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Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink]

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27 Feb 2013, 03:05
I didn't understand statement 2
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27 Feb 2013, 06:44
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fozzzy wrote:
I didn't understand statement 2

Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for same amount of money?

(1) 1 pound of pears cost $0.5 more that 1 pound of apples. If 1 pound of pears cost$1 and 1 pound of apples cost $0.5, then the cost of 5 pounds of apples is 5*0.5=$2.5. For $2.5 we can buy 2.5/1=2.5 pounds of pears. If 1 pound of pears cost$1.5 and 1 pound of apples cost $1, then the cost of 5 pounds of apples is 5*1=$5. For $5 we can buy 5/1.5=10/3 pounds of pears. Not sufficient. (2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples. The cost of 5 pounds of apples is$5a (where a is the cost of 1 pound of apples). For $5a we can buy 5a/(1.5a)=5/1.5 pounds of pears. Sufficient. Answer: B. Hope it's clear. _________________ Intern Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 14 Followers: 0 Kudos [?]: 9 [0], given: 15 Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink] ### Show Tags 10 Aug 2013, 13:17 Bunuel wrote: fozzzy wrote: I didn't understand statement 2 Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for same amount of money? (1) 1 pound of pears cost$0.5 more that 1 pound of apples.

If 1 pound of pears cost $1 and 1 pound of apples cost$0.5, then the cost of 5 pounds of apples is 5*0.5=$2.5. For$2.5 we can buy 2.5/1=2.5 pounds of pears.
If 1 pound of pears cost $1.5 and 1 pound of apples cost$1, then the cost of 5 pounds of apples is 5*1=$5. For$5 we can buy 5/1.5=10/3 pounds of pears.

Not sufficient.

(2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples. The cost of 5 pounds of apples is $5a (where a is the cost of 1 pound of apples). For$5a we can buy 5a/(1.5a)=5/1.5 pounds of pears. Sufficient.

Hope it's clear.

Hello Bunuel,

Can you please correct my approach of solving this question.

Statement 1:

5 pound of apple cost x
1 pound of apple cost x/5

1 pound of pear would have cost x/5 + 0.5$. Since x is unknown . Hence not sufficient Statement 2: 1 pound of pear cost 3/2(x/5). Here, now i thought that since x is still unknown its not sufficient. Combining both also doesnt give value for x. Hence my answer was E which is incorrect, Can you please solve this question using my approach. If its correct thanks! GMAT Club Legend Joined: 09 Sep 2013 Posts: 13430 Followers: 575 Kudos [?]: 163 [0], given: 0 Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink] ### Show Tags 01 Nov 2014, 12:19 Hello from the GMAT Club BumpBot! Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos). Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email. _________________ Intern Joined: 03 Feb 2011 Posts: 21 Followers: 0 Kudos [?]: 4 [0], given: 16 Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink] ### Show Tags 26 Feb 2015, 15:00 Seen quite a number of DS problem of this type, when they give you ratio then most probably you can figure it out the values, (2) 3x = 2y. But if they simply give you data like (1) x = y + 0.5 then there are high chances you can't figure it out the answer. EMPOWERgmat Instructor Status: GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat Joined: 19 Dec 2014 Posts: 8277 Location: United States (CA) GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49 GRE 1: 340 Q170 V170 Followers: 379 Kudos [?]: 2457 [2] , given: 163 Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink] ### Show Tags 26 Feb 2015, 20:15 2 This post received KUDOS Expert's post Hi All, While ankurjohar's question is over 1.5 years old, I'll still answer it because that approach COULD have worked, but the work was incomplete... Based on that user's initial steps....$X = cost of 5 pounds of apples
$X/5 = cost of 1 pound of apples Fact 2 tells us that 1 pound of pears costs 1.5 times the cost of 1 pound of apples. With some Algebra, we have... (X/5) = cost of 1 pound of apples (3/2)(X/5) = cost of 1 pound of pears 3X/10 = cost of 1 pound of pears At this point, ankurjohar assumed that this was insufficient, but there's still more work to do.... We now have a ratio that relates what$X will buy you in this situation:

$X buys you 5 pounds of apples Since$(3/10)(X) buys you 1 pound of pears, $X will buy you 10/3 pounds of pears, so we CAN answer the question with this information. Fact 2 is SUFFICIENT. Final Answer: [Reveal] Spoiler: B GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich _________________ # Rich Cohen Co-Founder & GMAT Assassin # Special Offer: Save$75 + GMAT Club Tests

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26 Feb 2015, 20:26
it is typical when difference in values of one item is not sufficient to count total number of items, but their ratio is sufficient

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Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears [#permalink]

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15 Aug 2015, 07:53
Hi

Please, is my reasoning correct?

st2: 1 pound of pears buys 1.5 pounds of apples (so to say you can change back your pears and receive apples instead). Hence 5 pounds of pears will buy 5*1.5 pounds of apples equals 7.5 pounds of apples
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15 Aug 2015, 09:33

Yes, the ratio that you've calculated IS correct and you can use that ratio to eventually answer the given question (although you did not do any of that work in your explanation).

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(2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples

................A........P
Pounds.......5.........P
Price.........x.........y

(1) $$y=x+0,5$$, $$5x=p(x+0,5)$$, you cannot get rid of x, hence not sufficient
(2) $$y=1,5x$$ --> $$5x=p*1,5x$$ -> $$p=10/3$$

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14 Jan 2016, 17:31
Forget conventional ways of solving math questions. In DS, Variable approach is the easiest and quickest way to find the answer without actually solving the problem. Remember equal number of variables and independent equations ensures a solution.

Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for same amount of money?

(1) 1 pound of pears cost \$0.5 more that 1 pound of apples
(2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples

When you modify the original condition and the question, it is frequently given on GMAT Math, which is "2 by 2" que like the table below.
Attachment:

GCDS r019h Pat bought 5 pounds of apples (20160115).jpg [ 21.67 KiB | Viewed 4881 times ]

On the tables, n=? is derived from 5a=np. Generally, when one con indicates number and the other con indicates ratio, it is most likely that ratio is an answer. As for this question, in 1) number and 2) ratio, substitute p=1.5a in 2) to 5a=np and it becomes 5a=n(1.5a). Then delete a on the both equations -> 5=1.5n, n=5/1.5, which is unique and sufficient. Therefore the answer is B.

 Once we modify the original condition and the question according to the variable approach method 1, we can solve approximately 30% of DS questions.
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Re: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears   [#permalink] 14 Jan 2016, 17:31
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# Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears

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