Bunuel
Today Rebecca, who is 34 years old, and her daughter, who is 8 years old, celebrate their birthdays. How many years will pass before Rebecca’s age is twice her daughter’s age?
(A) 10
(B) 14
(C) 18
(D) 22
(E) 26
Kudos for a correct solution. STRATEGY: Upon reading any GMAT Problem Solving question, we should always ask, Can I use the answer choices to my advantage?
In this case, we can easily test the answer choices.
From here, I'd typically give myself up to 20 seconds to identify a faster approach, but I can already see that testing the answer choices will be super fast. GMAT-specific approach: Test the answer choices
Let's start by testing the middle value (in most cases, it's a good idea to start with the middle value, because you can often eliminate answer choices based on the results of testing choice C)
(C) 18. This answer suggests that Rebecca will be twice as old as her daughter in 18 years.
In 18 years, Rebecca's age will = 34 + 18 = 52
In 18 years, the daughter's age will = 8 + 18 = 26
Since 52 = 2 x 26, the correct answer must be C.
Conventional approach: Apply algebraic techniques
Let x be the number of years from today.
So, x years in the future, Rebecca's age will be
34 + xAnd, x years in the future, her daughter's age will be
8 + x We want Rebecca’s future age to be twice her daughter’s future age.
We can create the following "word equation":
(Rebecca’s future age) = 2(daughter’s future age)Or we can write:
(34 + x) = 2(8 + x)Expand to get:
34 + x = 16 + 2xSolve to get:
x = 18Answer: CCheers,
Brent