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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech Updated on: 27 Jan 2024, 09:19
Originally posted by husainp on 27 Jan 2024, 08:38.
Last edited by chetan2u on 27 Jan 2024, 09:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Sales: 100% Technical: 50%
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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45% (medium)

Question Stats:

74% (02:26) correct 26% (03:09) wrong based on 1566 sessions

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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its technical department. Immediately before expansion, the number of employees in the sales department was exactly 60% of the number of employees in the technical department. Immediately after the expansion, the sales department had exactly 12 employees, and the technical department had exactly 15 employees.

Select for Sales and Technical percent increases in the number of employees that the sales department and the technical department, respectively could have experienced during expansion, such that the percent increases are jointly consistent with the information provided. Make only 2 selections, one in each column.
Sales Technical
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Sales: 100% Technical: 50%
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egmat
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech 19 Mar 2024, 04:41
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­A simple question indeed on the surface – appears to be a word problem question with ratios and percent increase.

But the key to solving this question is making this inference:
  • The presented information of 60% simplifies to 3:5 ratio and that implies that one quantity is a multiple of 3 and the other is a multiple of 5.

This processing is at the heart of solving this question.

Now after this step, one should take care of processing in the most efficient way, rejecting the combinations that are not possible.

So, this question is one of those easy wins – that you should be able to solve in less than 1.5’ if you do the processing in the most efficient way!


­
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech Updated on: 15 Oct 2025, 02:54
Originally posted by Bunuel on 08 Oct 2024, 07:12.
Last edited by Bunuel on 15 Oct 2025, 02:54, edited 1 time in total.
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husainp
A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its technical department. Immediately before expansion, the number of employees in the sales department was exactly 60% of the number of employees in the technical department. Immediately after the expansion, the sales department had exactly 12 employees, and the technical department had exactly 15 employees.

Select for Sales and Technical percent increases in the number of employees that the sales department and the technical department, respectively could have experienced during expansion, such that the percent increases are jointly consistent with the information provided. Make only 2 selections, one in each column.
Show more



Before the expansion, we are told that the number of employees in the sales department (S) was 60% of the number of employees in the technical department (T). This gives us S = 0.6T or S/T = 3/5. Since after the expansion, the number of employees in the sales and technical departments was 12 and 15 respectively, the number of employees in the departments before the expansion should have been less. Based on the ratio, the possible values could have been:


(S, T)
(3, 5)
(6, 10)
(9, 15)

____________

After the expansion, the number of employees in sales was 12, and in technical, 15.

If the values were (3, 5), the sales department would have had a 300% increase (from 3 to 12), but since this option isn't available, we discard this.

If the values were (6, 10), the sales department would have a 100% increase (from 6 to 12) and the technical department a 50% increase (from 10 to 15). This matches the available options. Done!
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech 27 Jan 2024, 09:28
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husainp
A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its technical department. Immediately before expansion, the number of employees in the sales department was exactly 60% of the number of employees in the technical department. Immediately after the expansion, the sales department had exactly 12 employees, and the technical department had exactly 15 employees.

Select for Sales and Technical percent increases in the number of employees that the sales department and the technical department, respectively could have experienced during expansion, such that the percent increases are jointly consistent with the information provided. Make only 2 selections, one in each column.
Show more


Before expansion:
Let the number of employees in technical department be x, then those in sales department = 0.6x
S:T = 0.6x:x = 3x:5x.
Thus, the minimum number can be S = 3 and T=5
After expansion:
S=12 and T=15
So S changes from 3 to 12, a 400% increase. No option

Next
Before expansion:
S:T = 0.6x:x = 3x:5x =3*2:5*2 = 6:10
After expansion:
S=12 and T=15
So, S changes from 6 to 12, a 100% increase. The answer is a part of option, so let us test for T.
T changes from 10 to 15, an increase of 50%, again in the option.

Answer
100% and 50%
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech 29 Apr 2024, 03:20
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chetan2u
I think you should have written 300% increase...(12-3)/3 *100 = 300%
chetan2u
husainp
A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its technical department. Immediately before expansion, the number of employees in the sales department was exactly 60% of the number of employees in the technical department. Immediately after the expansion, the sales department had exactly 12 employees, and the technical department had exactly 15 employees.

Select for Sales and Technical percent increases in the number of employees that the sales department and the technical department, respectively could have experienced during expansion, such that the percent increases are jointly consistent with the information provided. Make only 2 selections, one in each column.


Before expansion:
Let the number of employees in technical department be x, then those in sales department = 0.6x
S:T = 0.6x:x = 3x:5x.
Thus, the minimum number can be S = 3 and T=5
After expansion:
S=12 and T=15
So S changes from 3 to 12, a 400% increase. No option

Next
Before expansion:
S:T = 0.6x:x = 3x:5x =3*2:5*2 = 6:10
After expansion:
S=12 and T=15
So, S changes from 6 to 12, a 100% increase. The answer is a part of option, so let us test for T.
T changes from 10 to 15, an increase of 50%, again in the option.

Answer
100% and 50%
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech 09 Jul 2025, 04:55
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We can solve this question algebrically

Let's say s and t be number of employees in sales and technical departments

s = 0.6*t ----------- (1)

After expansion, they are 12 and 15.
Let x and y be expansion rates

e*(1+x) = 12
t*(1+y) = 15

Using eq(1)

12/(1+x) = 0.6*(15/(1+y))

By simplifying, we get:
3x = 4y + 1

Clearly, x = 100% and y = 50%
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech 15 Oct 2025, 02:43
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­A simple question indeed on the surface – appears to be a word problem question with ratios and percent increase.

But the key to solving this question is making this inference:
  • The presented information of 60% simplifies to 3:5 ratio and that implies that one quantity is a multiple of 3 and the other is a multiple of 5.

This processing is at the heart of solving this question.

Now after this step, one should take care of processing in the most efficient way, rejecting the combinations that are not possible.

So, this question is one of those easy wins – that you should be able to solve in less than 1.5’ if you do the processing in the most efficient way!


­
Show more
In This Question, I just took x=10, is it fine?
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A corporation recently expanded both its sales department and its tech 15 Oct 2025, 02:59
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bot00078

In This Question, I just took x=10, is it fine?
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What does x represent? Is it the number of employees in the technical department? If yes, then you can’t just assume T = 10 from the start because that’s exactly what the question is testing. You need to figure out which values of S and T, consistent with S/T = 3/5, lead to the final numbers 12 and 15.

When you test possible multiples of 3 and 5, you see that (S, T) = (6, 10) fits perfectly, since the increases become 100% and 50%, which match the available choices. So while T = 10 works, it isn’t something you “pick” freely, it’s the value that turns out to satisfy the given conditions.
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