{"id":7532,"date":"2011-06-23T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=7532"},"modified":"2011-06-15T19:33:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T03:33:05","slug":"kaplan-gmat-sample-problem-algebraic-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/kaplan-gmat-sample-problem-algebraic-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaplan GMAT Sample Problem: Algebraic Translation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kaplan<\/a> As you may have noticed in prepping for the GMAT<\/a>, in many cases the challenges you face in GMAT problems are less about the specific math skills, and more about translating word problems into mathematical equations in a fast and efficient way. Figuring out quickly HOW to approach the problem is one of the key skills the GMAT is testing (and, incidentally, a key skill in the business world as well). Try this typical word problem translation question, and be sure to practice GMAT-style word problems frequently, in addition to just practicing algebraic skills. <\/p>\n

Problem:<\/strong>
\nJacob is now 12 years younger than Michael. If 9 years from now Michael will be twice as old as Jacob, how old will Jacob be in 4 years?
\n(A) 3
\n(B) 7
\n(C) 15
\n(D) 21
\n(E) 25<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong>
\nThe first step to answering this question is translating the information in the problem into equations. If Jacob is 12 years younger than Michael, we can say that J = M \u2013 12, where J is Jacob\u2019s age and M is Michael\u2019s age.<\/p>\n

The second equation is a bit trickier to determine. You must keep in mind that it refers to the relationship between their ages in 9 years. Thus, Jacob will be J + 9 years old and Michael will be M + 9 years old. The equation we can then write if Michael will be twice as old as Jacob in 9 years is M + 9 = 2(J + 9).<\/p>\n

Because the question wants us to solve for Jacob\u2019s age in 4 years, we should next rewrite our first equation as M = J + 12. This allows us to substitute J + 12 for M in the second equation, which becomes (J + 12) + 9 = 2(J + 9). Then solve for J as follows:
\nJ + 12 + 9 = 2(J + 9)
\nJ + 21 = 2J + 18
\n3 = J.<\/p>\n

However, you must remember that the question asks for Jacob\u2019s age in 4 years. Since Jacob is 3 years old today, we know that he will be 7 years old in 4 years. Thus, the correct answer is choice (B).<\/p>\n

~Bret Ruber
\nhttps:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/gmat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you may have noticed in prepping for the GMAT, in many cases the challenges you face in GMAT problems are less about the specific math skills, and more about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,558,243,736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-kaplan-blog","category-blog","category-quant-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7534,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532\/revisions\/7534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}