40 percent of the ducks included in a certain side effects study were

Question

40 percent of the ducks included in a certain side effects study were male. If some of the ducks had side effects during the study and 30 percent of the ducks who had side effects were male, what was the ratio of the side effect rate for the male ducks to the side effect rate for the female ducks?
A. 1/4
B. 9/14
C. 2/3
D. 7/8
E. 8/7

Say total male = 40
Total female =60

Required ratio =( .3/40)/ (.7/60) = 9/14 B is the answer

Posted from my mobile device

A. 1/4 
B. 9/14 
C. 2/3 
D. 7/8 
E. 8/7

CrackverbalGMAT · Accepted Answer

Hi sairam595,

Word problems on the GMAT can be really tricky. The best thing to do when you solve word problems is to read the question in parts rather than reading the entire question. Also keep in mind that when you deal with questions related to percentages, it always makes sense to start with an initial value of 100.

So lets work this question out part by part.

40 percent of the ducks included in a certain side effects study were male

Now if we assume the total number of ducks to be 100, then we have  40 male ducks and 60 female ducks

If some of the ducks had side effects

Let the number of ducks who have side effects be 's'.

30 percent of the ducks who had side effects were male

This means that the number of males who had side effects is  0.3s  and the number of females who had side effects is  0.7s

What was the ratio of the side effect rate for the male ducks to the side effect rate for the female ducks?

The side effect rate for male ducks = Number of male ducks with side effects/Total number of males ducks  ----->  (0.3s)/40

The side effect rate for male ducks = Number of male ducks with side effects/Total number of males ducks  ----->  (0.7s)/60

Ratio = (0.3s)/40 : (0.7s)/60

Simplifying we get  9/14

Hope this helps!

Learn proven strategies to get an MBA through GMAT in 2018! Join Free 4 part MBA Through GMAT Video Training Series 
 https://gmat.crackverbal.com/mba-through-gmat-video-2018

CrackVerbal Academics Team

FightToSurvive · Answer

40 percent of the ducks included in a certain side effects study were male. If some of the ducks had side effects during the study and 30 percent of the ducks who had side effects were male, what was the ratio of the side effect rate for the male ducks to the side effect rate for the female ducks?
A. 1/4 
B. 9/14 
C. 2/3 
D. 7/8 
E. 8/7

Say total male = 40
Total female =60

Required ratio =( .3/40)/ (.7/60) = 9/14 B is the answer

Posted from my mobile device

essprsodose · Answer

This question doesn't sound complete to me. "SOME" of the ducts had side effects and out of these "SOME" ducks, 30% are male, so the other 70% are female.
SOME could be 10 ducks or even 100 ducks. Lets take 10 as example,
0.30 * 10 = 3 male 
0.70*10 = 7 female
The answer should be 3/7

I think it has wording issue.

dave13 · Answer

Bunuel shouldn't the answer be 3/7 ?

0.30*40 =12 0.7*60 = 42 \frac{12}{42} = \frac{3}{7} Hey Gladi how are you there ?

Gladiator59

rodri102 · Answer

It should be 9/14.

You are looking for the ratio of the side effects rate between males and females. To get this you have to get the side effects rate of the males and compare with the side effects rate of the females.

If x = total ducks with side effects, then 0.3x = # of male ducks with side effects, and 0.7x = # of female ducks with side effects.

Male side effects rate =  \frac{males with side effects}{total male population} . = \frac{0.3x}{40}

Female side effects rate =  \frac{females with side effects}{total female population}  = \frac{0.7x}{60}

Therefore, ratio of males to females is:

\frac{0.3x}{40}  :  \frac{0.7x}{60} . LCM is 120.

=  \frac{0.9x}{120}  :  \frac{1.4x}{120}

=9 : 14

dave13 · Answer

how 0.3 / 40 we get 9 ? Any math professors out there ?

rodri102 · Answer

Please see above. It is corrected.

Ratio of males to females is:

=  \frac{0.3x}{40}  :  \frac{0.7x}{60}. . LCM is 120

=  \frac{0.9x}{120}  :  \frac{1.4x}{120}

= 9 : 14

Gladiator59 · Answer

Hi there dave13 , hope you're doing great!

Lets try to take a few numbers to begin with. Study has 40% male ducks. Assuming there are a total of 100 there are 40 male and 60 female ducks. Let's X ducks be affected. It is given that 30% of X are male and hence remaining (i.e 70%)will be female. Incidence rate for male ducks will be # of affected males / # of total males 0.3*X / 40 .... (A) Similarly from female, 0.7*X / 60 .... (B) When we divide (A) by (B) we will get- (0.3* X * 60) / (0.7* X* 40) Or 18/28 Which is 9/14 Hence (B) is correct. Hope this helps.

Posted from my mobile device

ArupRS · Answer

I faced one similar question in a GMAT prep official mock test. The formula for side effects rate was given in the problem.

Male side effects rate= (males with side effects/total male population).

jcerdae · Answer

Hi!
Is there a way to solve this with the Matrix method?

My matrix looked like the following:
But I cant get over this step! Please help

_______| With | With/O | Total
_______| Side E | _______|____
--------------------------------------
Male | 30%X | _______| 40
--------------------------------------
Female | 70%x | ________| 60
--------------------------------------
Total | ______| ________| 100

bv8562 · Answer

I solved it with Matrix Method:

Let:
 Total ducks  =  100 
 Ducks with side-effects  =  x 
 (Kindly refer to the screenshot attached for the Matrix)

Rate for Male ducks = 0.3x/40
Rate for Female ducks = 0.7x/60

Ratio of the side effect rate for the male ducks to the side effect rate for the female ducks = 0.3x/40 * 60/0.7x =  9/14 (B)

bumpbot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club BumpBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

40 percent of the ducks included in a certain side effects study were

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Problem Solving (PS) Questions

40 percent of the ducks included in a certain side effects study were

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards