Do these simple remainder questions trick you often?

Question

Do these simple remainder questions trick you often? Spare a minute to get your troubles out of the way!

Remainders problems are quite frequent on GMAT and can often be quite confusing to you!!

We all know that
The remainder is what remains when we divide two numbers. 
Remainders can be expressed as a non-negative integer, fractions or as decimals

Let us consider an example:
when we divide 9/2, the remainder is 1.

Now, We can also express this as a mixed number
9/2 = 4(1/2) = 4+1/2, where the quotient is the whole number (4), while the remainder is the numerator of the fraction (1). The denominator of the fraction (2) is the divisor.

In general,
Dividend/Divisor = Quotient + ( Remainder/Divisor)
 
The other way to express this is as decimals.
 For above example 9/2 = 4.5. We can take the decimal part of the quotient and multiply it by the divisor to get the remainder. If we multiply (.5) by the divisor 2, gives the remainder 1

Note: Given a number in decimal form, we can't determine the actual remainder. we can get only the possible set of remainders.
Let’s say n, j are both positive integers, and n/j = 3.8 = 3 + 0.8 =3 + 8/10 = 3 + 4/5
Thus, Possible set of remainders = {4,8,12,16 20….}
And divisor is multiple of 5= {5, 10, 15,20….}

Let’s solve this GMAT question based on the same concept:

If s and t are positive integers such that s/t = 64.12, which of the following could be the remainder when s is divided by t?
(A) 2
(B) 4
(C) 8
(D) 20
(E) 45
Dividend/Divisor = Quotient + (Remainder/Divisor)
s/t = 64.12=64+0.12=64 + 12/100 = 64+3/25
From this we can observe that remainder is multiple of 3, out of all the options only choice E is multiple of 3

Cheers!
Manisha
Gmat Quant Expert
PrepMinds - Founder

Yogananda · Answer

Kudos Manisha, quite an insight.
Thanks for sharing it with the club.We will appreciate if you come up more of these kind of tricks.

poojakhanduja3017 · Answer

This is very helpful. Thank you. We will like to have more such tips.

ManishaPrepMinds · Answer

Thank you  MBADream786  for the appreciation!

I will keep on posting such topics, fundamentals, or tricks and how are they tested on GMAT

ManishaPrepMinds · Answer

poojakhanduja3017 Thank you, You found this to be helpful

I will continue with more such tips and tricks to solve GMAT quant questions

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

Do these simple remainder questions trick you often?

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