Bunuel wrote:
It takes printer A 4 more minutes than printer B to print 40 pages. If working together, the two printers can print 50 pages in 6 minutes, how long will it take printer A to print 80 pages?
A. 12
B. 18
C. 20
D. 24
E. 30
Tried to find correct answer through POE and solved in less than 2 mins and you can also reach to correct ans if you don't have superb knowledge which required to use above described method, Following are the steps which I followed.
1) Try to plugin value of option C(medium value) 80/20 = 4 PPM (Pages Per Min), hence in 6 min A will print 24 pages hence B will print 26 pages hence B will print 26/6 PPM but calculation will get difficult if you try to prove 1st condition and GMAT never give difficult calculations as it tests your logic skills and not calculation skills.
2) Try with option B 80/18 = 40/9 PPM, hence in 6 Min A will print 40/9 * 6 = 26 pages which is not possible as A can not print more than 50% of pages in total contribution of 50 pages as it works slow than B.
3) Now You can also eliminate option A as Printer A can not take less than 18 Min. Hence Option A, B, and C is canceled and left with D and E.
4) Try with option D 80/24 = 10/3 PPM, hence in 6 min Printer A will print 10/3 * 6 = 20 pages and B will print 50-20 = 30 Pages. Hence B can print 30/6 = 5 PPM
Now plug in this value for 1st condition and you will find that A will print 40 pages in 12 min and B will print 40 pages in 8 min. Got your ans.
This looks like time consuming but it is not if you perform most of the steps in Brain and not Paper.Hi
chetan2u,
Bunuel,
Could you please advise if I have followed any incorrect steps to reach right answer.