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# A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the

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Manager
Joined: 13 Sep 2016
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A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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Updated on: 09 Apr 2018, 23:27
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Difficulty:

85% (hard)

Question Stats:

44% (03:04) correct 56% (01:58) wrong based on 59 sessions

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A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the peanuts:cashews:almonds ratio of 10:4:1 in each bag of up to 75 total nuts. What is the maximum percentage by which the company could decrease its number of peanuts per bag and still have peanuts constitute more than half the total amount of nuts?

(A) 40%
(B) 48%
(C) 49%
(D) 50%
(E) 60%

Originally posted by alanforde800Maximus on 01 Oct 2016, 12:59.
Last edited by chetan2u on 09 Apr 2018, 23:27, edited 1 time in total.
updated OA
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Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 6802
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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01 Oct 2016, 20:14
2
alanforde800Maximus wrote:
A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the peanuts:cashews:almonds ratio of 10:4:1 in each bag of up to 75 total nuts. What is the maximum percentage by which the company could decrease its number of peanuts per bag and still have peanuts constitute more than half the total amount of nuts?

(A) 30%
(B) 40%
(C) 49%
(D) 50%
(E) 60%

Hi,
We are not aware the exact numbers it could be minimum 10+4+1 or 75..
If it is 15, there are 10 peanuts and remaining 5 of others..
To be still more than 50%, peanuts should be more than 5, say least 6..
So from 10, we can get it down to 6.
So % decrease is 4 out of 10= $$\frac{4}{10}*100$$%..40%

But say bag was full...75
So peanuts were 50 and others 75-50=25...
Peanuts can be 26 and still be more than 50%..
So decrease % =$$\frac{(50-26)}{50}=\frac{24}{50}=48$$%

Here we are not aware how many nuts are there in total, so 40% or less decrease will ensure that peanuts are>50%

B
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Manager
Joined: 24 Oct 2013
Posts: 145
Location: India
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
WE: Information Technology (Computer Software)
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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01 Oct 2016, 22:31
chetan2u,

I tried to do something like this

75 is the total and when divided as per ratio, they would be 50 : 20 : 5

Since the reduction would be evenly distributed trough out for all the nuts, i took LCM for 10, 4, 1 and LCM is 20 .

So decided that the percentage discounted would be multiple of 20 i.e from options the possible values are 20, 40

when i applied rule that peanuts should be half for 20 % decrease, the ratio will be 30 : 12: 3 - which satisfies the condition

now taking 40% decrease, the ratio will be 20 : 8: 2 which constitute exactly half - which does not satisfy the condition that peanuts should be more than half.

So it should be 20 %

Is this approach right ??
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Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 6802
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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02 Oct 2016, 02:40
2
deepthit wrote:
chetan2u,

I tried to do something like this

75 is the total and when divided as per ratio, they would be 50 : 20 : 5

Since the reduction would be evenly distributed trough out for all the nuts, i took LCM for 10, 4, 1 and LCM is 20 .

So decided that the percentage discounted would be multiple of 20 i.e from options the possible values are 20, 40

when i applied rule that peanuts should be half for 20 % decrease, the ratio will be 30 : 12: 3 - which satisfies the condition

now taking 40% decrease, the ratio will be 20 : 8: 2 which constitute exactly half - which does not satisfy the condition that peanuts should be more than half.

So it should be 20 %

Is this approach right ??

Hi,

There is a bit of misunderstanding of the Q in above method..
The decrease is ONLY of peanuts..
Thus the ratio that has to be decreased is 50 in 50:20:5....
So remove some out of 50 such that the SUM of other two 20+5 becomes less than half..
_________________

1) Absolute modulus : http://gmatclub.com/forum/absolute-modulus-a-better-understanding-210849.html#p1622372
2)Combination of similar and dissimilar things : http://gmatclub.com/forum/topic215915.html
3) effects of arithmetic operations : https://gmatclub.com/forum/effects-of-arithmetic-operations-on-fractions-269413.html

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Manager
Joined: 24 Oct 2013
Posts: 145
Location: India
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
WE: Information Technology (Computer Software)
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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02 Oct 2016, 03:27
1
chetan2u wrote:
deepthit wrote:
chetan2u,

I tried to do something like this

75 is the total and when divided as per ratio, they would be 50 : 20 : 5

Since the reduction would be evenly distributed trough out for all the nuts, i took LCM for 10, 4, 1 and LCM is 20 .

So decided that the percentage discounted would be multiple of 20 i.e from options the possible values are 20, 40

when i applied rule that peanuts should be half for 20 % decrease, the ratio will be 30 : 12: 3 - which satisfies the condition

now taking 40% decrease, the ratio will be 20 : 8: 2 which constitute exactly half - which does not satisfy the condition that peanuts should be more than half.

So it should be 20 %

Is this approach right ??

Hi,

There is a bit of misunderstanding of the Q in above method..
The decrease is ONLY of peanuts..
Thus the ratio that has to be decreased is 50 in 50:20:5....
So remove some out of 50 such that the SUM of other two 20+5 becomes less than half..

Thank you for the clarification. I interpreted the question wrongly.
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Joined: 05 Dec 2015
Posts: 122
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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18 Oct 2016, 20:17
Hi - I understand the 48% figure, but why do you chose 40% then? Is it because it's the highest choice less than the figure you arrived at (48%)?

chetan2u wrote:
alanforde800Maximus wrote:
A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the peanuts:cashews:almonds ratio of 10:4:1 in each bag of up to 75 total nuts. What is the maximum percentage by which the company could decrease its number of peanuts per bag and still have peanuts constitute more than half the total amount of nuts?

(A) 30%
(B) 40%
(C) 49%
(D) 50%
(E) 60%

Hi,
We are not aware the exact numbers it could be minimum 10+4+1 or 75..
If it is 15, there are 10 peanuts and remaining 5 of others..
To be still more than 50%, peanuts should be more than 5, say least 6..
So from 10, we can get it down to 6.
So % decrease is 4 out of 10= 4/10*100%..40%

But say bag was full...75
So peanuts were 50 and others 75-50=25...
Peanuts can be 26 and still be more than 50%..
So decrease % =(50-26)/50=24/50=48%

Here we are not aware how many nuts are there in total, so 40% or less decrease will ensure that peanuts are>50%

B
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Joined: 16 May 2017
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Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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03 Sep 2017, 05:38
Why wouldn't it be 45% (answer that is not included)?

We know the ratio to be 10x:4x:x. x <= 5, given that the total number of peanuts must be less than 75.

Let y be the number of peanuts to be subtracted:
(10x-y)/(15x-y) > 0.5
2.5x > 0.5y
5x > y

Therefore, y must be less than 5x.
At first glance, it appears that y must decrease in increments of x (i.e., 4x, 3x, 2x, x), but isn't that not true?
If x = 2, and y = 4.5x, the new ratio of peanuts is 11/21 = 0.52, which is greater than 50%.

Can anyone help?
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Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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04 Sep 2017, 06:03
tlaw wrote:
Why wouldn't it be 45% (answer that is not included)?

We know the ratio to be 10x:4x:x. x <= 5, given that the total number of peanuts must be less than 75.

Let y be the number of peanuts to be subtracted:
(10x-y)/(15x-y) > 0.5
2.5x > 0.5y
5x > y

Therefore, y must be less than 5x.
At first glance, it appears that y must decrease in increments of x (i.e., 4x, 3x, 2x, x), but isn't that not true?
If x = 2, and y = 4.5x, the new ratio of peanuts is 11/21 = 0.52, which is greater than 50%.

Can anyone help?
VeritasPrepKarishma Bunuel

Say bag had total 75 nuts - the maximum possible
So peanuts were 50 and others 75-50=25
Peanuts can be 26 and still be more than 50%
So decrease % =(50-26)/50=24/50=48%
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Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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04 Sep 2017, 06:06
VeritasPrepKarishma - Thank you!
Then is the answer key to this question incorrect?
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Joined: 08 Jul 2017
Posts: 26
GMAT 1: 620 Q48 V29
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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09 Apr 2018, 23:20
A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the
peanuts:cashews:almonds ratio of 10:4:1 in each bag of up to 75 total nuts.
What is the maximum percentage by which the company could decrease its
number of peanuts per bag and still have peanuts constitute more than half
the total amount of nuts?
(A) 40%
(B) 48%
(C) 49%
(D) 50%
(E) 58%

I really did not get the question. please anyone explain.
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 49320
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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09 Apr 2018, 23:47
robu1 wrote:
A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the
peanuts:cashews:almonds ratio of 10:4:1 in each bag of up to 75 total nuts.
What is the maximum percentage by which the company could decrease its
number of peanuts per bag and still have peanuts constitute more than half
the total amount of nuts?
(A) 40%
(B) 48%
(C) 49%
(D) 50%
(E) 58%

I really did not get the question. please anyone explain.

Please refer to the discussion above.
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Posts: 616
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the  [#permalink]

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11 Apr 2018, 20:56
Currently peanuts are 50 and other are 25. So peanuts can be reduced to max 26 in number.

26/50 corresponds to 52percent.
Means it can reduce by 48 percent

Posted from my mobile device
Re: A trail mix company keeps costs down by employing the &nbs [#permalink] 11 Apr 2018, 20:56
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