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Bunuel
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1st class took 1/3 of the old lab or (knowing new lab=3 old stations) 1/9 of the new. 1/9+1/5=14/45, hence, A
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Bunuel
At a certain university, a new chemistry lab is built with three times the number of lab stations as the old chemistry lab. A professor plans to combine two existing chemistry classes in the new lab. If the first chemistry class took 1/3 of the original lab stations and the second chemistry class takes 1/5 of the new lab stations, what fraction of the lab stations in the new lab are taken when the two classes are combined?

A. 14/45

B. 1/3

C. 8/15

D. 31/45

E. 11/15

We are given that the new lab has 3 times as many lab stations as the old lab. If we let the number of stations in the old lab = d, then number of stations in the new lab = 3d.

Since one class takes (1/3)d lab stations of the old lab and the other class takes (1/5)(3d) = (3/5)d lab stations of the new lab, the total number of stations needed when the two classes are combined is (1/3)d + (3/5)d = (5/15)d + (9/15)d = (14/15)d.

Thus the fraction of lab stations that will be taken in the new lab is:

[(14/15)d]/(3d)

(14/15)/3

(14/15) x 1/3 = 14/45

Answer: A
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ravisinghal
first class takes 1/3 of old lab
and old lab = new lab/3

so effectively first class takes (new lab/9 ) stations
second class takes (new lab/5)

total = n/9 + n/5 = 14/45..answer A

That is simple and great explanation many thanks
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Is there a way to solve this using a matrix box?
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The phrasing of this question is terrible. It's difficult to interpret, and not in an interesting way. In a sloppy way.

Here's my attempt at an improvement:

At a certain university, a new chemistry lab is built with three times the number of lab stations as the old chemistry lab. A professor plans to combine two existing chemistry classes in the new lab. If the first chemistry class was previously using 1/3 of the original lab stations and the second chemistry class was previously using 1/5 of the new lab stations, what fraction of the lab stations in the new lab will be used when the two classes are combined?
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