Last visit was: 01 May 2026, 14:52 It is currently 01 May 2026, 14:52
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
spiderman_xx
User avatar
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Last visit: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 62
Own Kudos:
2
Posts: 62
Kudos: 2
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the 19 Dec 2004, 10:52
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the fish with a single mark. He also marked 400 fishes with two or more marks. What is the probability that the fisherman will catch a fish with a single mark among all the marked fishes?

I do not have the answer choices. Please explain your answer.



Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Quantitative Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block below for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
User avatar
target780
User avatar
Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Last visit: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 29
Own Kudos:
16
Posts: 29
Kudos: 16
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the 19 Dec 2004, 12:40
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the fish with a single mark. He also marked 400 fishes with two or more marks. What is the probability that the fisherman will catch a fish with a single mark among all the marked fishes?
Show more


Did you actually mean "at least" in the question. If that is the case, i dont think u can solve the problem,

Assuming the question meant exactly 1/4.
then Fishes with one mark = 1000.
fishes with 2 or more = 400.

so reqd probability = 1000/(1000 + 400) = 10/14 = 5/7.

If the question actually meant atleast 1/4. then it can be any number greater than 1000. so if the number of single marked fishes is 1/2 the answer wud be 2000/24000 = 5/6.

you can have effectively 1000 to 3600 as the number of single marked fishes. and each of these will give you a different probability.
avatar
Sargataur
avatar
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Last visit: 22 Mar 2005
Posts: 7
Posts: 7
Kudos: 0
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the 19 Dec 2004, 12:41
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
unless theres a catch to this question or im not reading it right

1/4 marked with one mark = 1/4 of 4000 = 1000 fishes

400 fishes with 2 or more marks

so total marked fishes = 1400 of which reqd prob is 1000/1400 = 10/14

but i doubt the question is that easy....

what od u guys think ....71.5 percent or 0.715
User avatar
spiderman_xx
User avatar
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Last visit: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 62
Own Kudos:
2
Posts: 62
Kudos: 2
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the 19 Dec 2004, 16:02
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Sargataur
unless theres a catch to this question or im not reading it right

1/4 marked with one mark = 1/4 of 4000 = 1000 fishes

400 fishes with 2 or more marks

so total marked fishes = 1400 of which reqd prob is 1000/1400 = 10/14

but i doubt the question is that easy....

what od u guys think ....71.5 percent or 0.715
Show more


target780, Sargataur,

Yes, the word 'at least 1/4' is part of the question stem [I am dead sure about this]. And No the answer is NOT 5/7 since this was "not" one of the five answer choices.
I too believe having 'at least' makes the problem unbounded and therefore this makes a good tricky problem which the ETS loves to throw into the questions.

Can anyone else give this problem a try.
User avatar
toddmartin
User avatar
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Last visit: 02 Mar 2005
Posts: 37
Own Kudos:
1
Posts: 37
Kudos: 1
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the 21 Dec 2004, 13:33
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
spiderman_xx
Sargataur
unless theres a catch to this question or im not reading it right

1/4 marked with one mark = 1/4 of 4000 = 1000 fishes

400 fishes with 2 or more marks

so total marked fishes = 1400 of which reqd prob is 1000/1400 = 10/14

but i doubt the question is that easy....

what od u guys think ....71.5 percent or 0.715

target780, Sargataur,

Yes, the word 'at least 1/4' is part of the question stem [I am dead sure about this]. And No the answer is NOT 5/7 since this was "not" one of the five answer choices.
I too believe having 'at least' makes the problem unbounded and therefore this makes a good tricky problem which the ETS loves to throw into the questions.

Can anyone else give this problem a try.
Show more


If this were a data sufficiency question I would say it is solvable, but it seems to be impossible to solve by hand. Since the probability is the number of favorable outcomes/total outcomes, you could add up the probability with 1/4 marked, then keep adding 1 more fish till you have all of them, or start with 0 marked, then go up to 1/4 and subtract 1 from this answer. Maybe there is some kind of pattern that would make any of these calculations possible but I don't know.

Was this problem in the OG? If so then do you know what number?
User avatar
spiderman_xx
User avatar
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Last visit: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 62
Own Kudos:
2
Posts: 62
Kudos: 2
A fisherman caught 4000 fish. He marked at least 1/4 of the 21 Dec 2004, 13:44
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
toddmartin
spiderman_xx
Sargataur
unless theres a catch to this question or im not reading it right

1/4 marked with one mark = 1/4 of 4000 = 1000 fishes

400 fishes with 2 or more marks

so total marked fishes = 1400 of which reqd prob is 1000/1400 = 10/14

but i doubt the question is that easy....

what od u guys think ....71.5 percent or 0.715

target780, Sargataur,

Yes, the word 'at least 1/4' is part of the question stem [I am dead sure about this]. And No the answer is NOT 5/7 since this was "not" one of the five answer choices.
I too believe having 'at least' makes the problem unbounded and therefore this makes a good tricky problem which the ETS loves to throw into the questions.

Can anyone else give this problem a try.

If this were a data sufficiency question I would say it is solvable, but it seems to be impossible to solve by hand. Since the probability is the number of favorable outcomes/total outcomes, you could add up the probability with 1/4 marked, then keep adding 1 more fish till you have all of them, or start with 0 marked, then go up to 1/4 and subtract 1 from this answer. Maybe there is some kind of pattern that would make any of these calculations possible but I don't know.

Was this problem in the OG? If so then do you know what number?
Show more


toddmartin,
This was one of the questions that I got on my actual GMAT two weeks back. Of-course, the only rationale sol. I could get was 5/7, which was not one of the answer choices (I paniced). Therefore, I guessed.
Now, after seeing all of the responses, I guess this may have been an experimental question?



Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Quantitative Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!