A bowl is half full of water. Four cups of water are then added to the

Question

A bowl is half full of water. Four cups of water are then added to the bowl, filling the bowl to 70% of its capacity. How many cups of water are now in the bowl?

A. 10
B. 12
C. 14
D. 16
E. 18

A bowl was half full of water. 4 cups of water were then added to the bowl, filling the bowl to 70% of its capacity. How many cups of water are now in the bowl?

14

KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

Since you asked for a solution with a variable, Say cup's capacity = x
Bowl's capacity = B
Bowl is half full i.e. 50%B is full
50/100 * B + 4x = 70/100 * B
B = 20x
So Bowl's capacity is of 20 cups. If it is 70% full, it has 70/100 * 20 = 14 cups in it.

Otherwise, just think - Bowl is 50% full. It became 70% full i.e. an increase of 20% by adding 4 cups. So each cup adds 5%. 70% full will have 70/5 = 14 cups.

petrifiedbutstanding · Answer

Guess I'm kinda late here, but I'll contribute my 2 cents anyway since I'm this happy with my solution!

The question right away reveals that 20% = 4 cups. Hence 1 cup = 5%.

Therefore, if it was already 50% full, there were 10 cups of water.

Add the 4 cups we just added, that makes it 14.

GMATinsight · Answer

(1/2)*B + 4 = (70/100)*B

i.e. (20/100)*B = 4 cups

i.e. B = 20 cups

Water in bowl = 70% of B = 14 cups

Answer: Option C

goaltop30mba · Answer

hey everyone!

While I understand all the solutions, I just want to understand why the below logic is giving me an incorrect answer - what is fundamentally wrong with the below logic?

let initial capacity be 4 units. Hence initial capacity of water must be 2 units.

let capacity of 1 cup be x units. Hence capacity of 4 cups will be 4x units.

Now, (2 + 4x)/(4+4x) = 70/100 or 7/10

Further solving is giving me 7 cups.

why is this incorrect?

ManifestDreamMBA · Answer

Since your total capacity is 4, the denominator should be 4.

bumpbot · Answer

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A bowl is half full of water. Four cups of water are then added to the

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