Hi All,
Since this question is built around the concept of a "weighted average", there are several different ways that you can go about solving it. Since the question asks how much alcohol must be added, and the answer choices are NUMBERS, we can TEST THE ANSWERS and do some basic arithmetic to get to the solution.
We're told that a 100-liter solution is 20% alcohol. This means that 20 liters are alcohol and 80 liters are not alcohol. We're asked how many liters must be added to this 100-liter solution to get a solution that is 25% alcohol.
Let's start with ANSWER B: 5 liters
IF....we add 5 liters of alcohol to this existing mixture....
Total alcohol = 20+5 = 25 liters
Total liquid = 100+5 = 105 liters
25/105 is LESS than 25% alcohol (since 25/100 = 25%, 25/105 is LESS than 25%), thus Answer B CANNOT be the answer. We need MORE alcohol to raise the percentage.
Eliminate Answers A and B.
Next, let's TEST ANSWER D: 8 liters
IF....we add 8 liters of alcohol to this existing mixture....
Total alcohol = 20+8 = 28 liters
Total liquid = 100+8 = 108 liters
28/108 is MORE than 25% alcohol (since 28/112 = 25%, 28/108 is MORE than 25%), thus Answer D CANNOT be the answer. We need LESS alcohol to raise the percentage.
Eliminate Answers D and E.
There's only one answer left...
Final Answer:
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich