Dear Harley1980,
This is a great question, and I am happy to help.

There is some number of Progressives in the country as a whole. Call that number P.

In each province, the number of traditionalists is P/10 = 0.1*P

In five provinces, the number of traditionalist would be that times five, 0.5*P. In other words, the number of traditionalist is half the number of progressives.

Let T be the total number of traditionalists. Then P = 2T, and the total population in the country is 3T. T is 1/3 of this. OA = (B).

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep





Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)

Hi All,

This question can be solved by TESTing VALUES.

We're given a series of facts to work with:
1) There are 5 provinces
2) Each province includes a certain number of Progressives and a certain number of Traditionalists
3) Each province has the SAME number of Traditionalists; the number of Traditionalists in each province = 1/10 the TOTAL number of Progressives in the ENTIRE COUNTRY.

We're asked 'what fraction of the COUNTRY is TRADITIONALISTS?'

If we say that each province has 10 Traditionalists in it, then we can calculate the TOTAL number of Progressives in the ENTIRE COUNTRY....

10 = (1/10)(ALL Progressives)
100 = All Progressives

Since there are 5 provinces, each with 10 Traditionalists in it, there are (5)(10) = 50 Total Traditionalists

50 Traditionalists + 100 Progressives = 150 Total people.

Since we're asked for the fraction that is Traditionalists.... 50/150 = 1/3

Final Answer:

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Hi Sash143,

When TESTing VALUES on this question, you can use ANY number of Traditionalists (I simply chose 10 because it made all of the numbers 'round numbers'). The prompt tells us that the number of Traditionalists is the SAME in all 5 provinces, so you MUST multiply your Value by 5 (to find the TOTAL number of Traditionalists). Whatever number you Test ALSO impacts the TOTAL number of Progressives in the country (you have to multiply that Value by 10 to get the Total number of Progressives).

The prompts asks us to consider the WHOLE COUNTRY, so we don't actually have to count up the number of Traditionalists in each province (we already know THAT Total).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
_________________

760+: Learn What GMAT Assassins Do to Score at the Highest Levels
Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

***********************Select EMPOWERgmat Courses now include ALL 6 Official GMAC CATs!***********************

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