Bunuel
From a solution containing milk and water in the ratio 2 : 3, 15 litres of solution is removed and replaced with 15 litres of milk. This operation is done once more. Now the ratio of milk to water is 7 : 5. What was the volume of the initial solution?
A. 60 litres
B. 70 litres
C. 80 litres
D. 90 litres
E. 100 litres
Solution:Instead of solving this problem algebraically, let’s solve it numerically by checking the given answer choices. Let’s start with choice A using the table below (notice that the volume of the solution is always 60 if we use choice A):
Attachment:
milk1.png [ 31.49 KiB | Viewed 15429 times ]
Now, let’s compute the ratio of milk to water from the last row of the table above:
39.75/20.25 = 159/81 = 53/27
We see that 53/27 is not 7/5. Choice A is not correct.
Let’s continue with choice D using the table below (notice that the volume of the solution is always 90 if we use choice D):
Attachment:
milk2.png [ 30.81 KiB | Viewed 15401 times ]
Now, let’s compute the ratio of milk to water from the last row of the table above:
52.5/37.5 = 105/75 = 7/5
We see that choice D is the correct answer.
(Note: We check choice A first and then skip to choice D because 15, the amount we are replacing, is 1/4 of 60 and 1/6 of 90. Notice that 1/4 and 1/6 are nice and easy fractions.)
Answer: D