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Bunuel
8 litres are drawn from a cask filled with wine and is then filled with water. This operation is performed three more times. The ratio of the quantity of wine now left in cask to that of the total solution is 16:81. How much wine did the cask hold originally?

A. 24 litres

B. 44 litres

C. 45 litres

D. 49 litres

D. 50 litres

Set the total original volume of wine as x litres. Each time we take away 8 litres of the solution, we lose \(\frac{8}{x}\) of the wine (and water too!), and we are left with \(1 - \frac{8}{x}\) of the wine. This ratio does not change as the total volume is always filled back to x. If we perform this 4 times in total we multiply x by this ratio 4 times, so we have the equation:
\(\frac{x * (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4}{x} = \frac{16}{81} \)

\( (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4 = 16/81\)

\(1 - \frac{8}{x} = 2/3\)

\(\frac{8}{x} = \frac{1}{3}\)

\(x = 24\)

Ans: A

A couple of numbers can help us see we are multiplying the volume of wine by a fixed ratio each step too;

Assuming the total volume was 50L and we took away 10L of the solution each time:

Wine vs Water
50 0
40 10, taking away 10L would be taking away 8 wine 2 water.
32 18, taking away 10L would be taking away 6.4 wine and 3.6 water.
25.6 ...

As we can see every time we take away 10L the wine portion is multiplied by a fixed ratio of 4/5.

Is this method bullet proof for all types of questions like these irrespective of how many times we remove and replace?

What if we replaced it with different amounts of water each time (less or more)? Can you show some examples?
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Bunuel
8 litres are drawn from a cask filled with wine and is then filled with water. This operation is performed three more times. The ratio of the quantity of wine now left in cask to that of the total solution is 16:81. How much wine did the cask hold originally?

A. 24 litres

B. 44 litres

C. 45 litres

D. 49 litres

D. 50 litres

Set the total original volume of wine as x litres. Each time we take away 8 litres of the solution, we lose \(\frac{8}{x}\) of the wine (and water too!), and we are left with \(1 - \frac{8}{x}\) of the wine. This ratio does not change as the total volume is always filled back to x. If we perform this 4 times in total we multiply x by this ratio 4 times, so we have the equation:
\(\frac{x * (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4}{x} = \frac{16}{81} \)

\( (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4 = 16/81\)

\(1 - \frac{8}{x} = 2/3\)

\(\frac{8}{x} = \frac{1}{3}\)

\(x = 24\)

Ans: A

A couple of numbers can help us see we are multiplying the volume of wine by a fixed ratio each step too;

Assuming the total volume was 50L and we took away 10L of the solution each time:

Wine vs Water
50 0
40 10, taking away 10L would be taking away 8 wine 2 water.
32 18, taking away 10L would be taking away 6.4 wine and 3.6 water.
25.6 ...

As we can see every time we take away 10L the wine portion is multiplied by a fixed ratio of 4/5.



Hi,

I don't understand how you came up with such ratio ? And how is that ratio constant amongst all 4 cycles ?

Can anyone please explain ?

Thanks
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Bunuel
8 litres are drawn from a cask filled with wine and is then filled with water. This operation is performed three more times. The ratio of the quantity of wine now left in cask to that of the total solution is 16:81. How much wine did the cask hold originally?

A. 24 litres

B. 44 litres

C. 45 litres

D. 49 litres

D. 50 litres

Set the total original volume of wine as x litres. Each time we take away 8 litres of the solution, we lose \(\frac{8}{x}\) of the wine (and water too!), and we are left with \(1 - \frac{8}{x}\) of the wine. This ratio does not change as the total volume is always filled back to x. If we perform this 4 times in total we multiply x by this ratio 4 times, so we have the equation:
\(\frac{x * (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4}{x} = \frac{16}{81} \)

\( (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4 = 16/81\)

\(1 - \frac{8}{x} = 2/3\)

\(\frac{8}{x} = \frac{1}{3}\)

\(x = 24\)

Ans: A

A couple of numbers can help us see we are multiplying the volume of wine by a fixed ratio each step too;

Assuming the total volume was 50L and we took away 10L of the solution each time:

Wine vs Water
50 0
40 10, taking away 10L would be taking away 8 wine 2 water.
32 18, taking away 10L would be taking away 6.4 wine and 3.6 water.
25.6 ...

As we can see every time we take away 10L the wine portion is multiplied by a fixed ratio of 4/5.



Hi,

I don't understand how you came up with such ratio ? And how is that ratio constant amongst all 4 cycles ?

Can anyone please explain ?

Thanks

Same doubt here. should the second act of removing 8 litres, remove some of wine and some of water as well, since the first round mixed 8 litres of water with the left over wine?

Bunuel chetan2u Please clarify!
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funkyakki
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8 litres are drawn from a cask filled with wine and is then filled with water. This operation is performed three more times. The ratio of the quantity of wine now left in cask to that of the total solution is 16:81. How much wine did the cask hold originally?

A. 24 litres

B. 44 litres

C. 45 litres

D. 49 litres

D. 50 litres

Set the total original volume of wine as x litres. Each time we take away 8 litres of the solution, we lose \(\frac{8}{x}\) of the wine (and water too!), and we are left with \(1 - \frac{8}{x}\) of the wine. This ratio does not change as the total volume is always filled back to x. If we perform this 4 times in total we multiply x by this ratio 4 times, so we have the equation:
\(\frac{x * (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4}{x} = \frac{16}{81} \)

\( (1 - \frac{8}{x})^4 = 16/81\)

\(1 - \frac{8}{x} = 2/3\)

\(\frac{8}{x} = \frac{1}{3}\)

\(x = 24\)

Ans: A

A couple of numbers can help us see we are multiplying the volume of wine by a fixed ratio each step too;

Assuming the total volume was 50L and we took away 10L of the solution each time:

Wine vs Water
50 0
40 10, taking away 10L would be taking away 8 wine 2 water.
32 18, taking away 10L would be taking away 6.4 wine and 3.6 water.
25.6 ...

As we can see every time we take away 10L the wine portion is multiplied by a fixed ratio of 4/5.



Hi,

I don't understand how you came up with such ratio ? And how is that ratio constant amongst all 4 cycles ?

Can anyone please explain ?

Thanks

Same doubt here. should the second act of removing 8 litres, remove some of wine and some of water as well, since the first round mixed 8 litres of water with the left over wine?

Bunuel chetan2u Please clarify!


Hi

The ratio 4/5 has nothing to do with the water or wine, but the amount of total that is being taken out.

Let us talk of the example where the mix contains 50 liter and we are removing 10 liters. When you remove 10 liter out of 50, it means you have taken out 10/50 or 1/5 of total ( water and wine).

What is left ? 1-(1/5) or 4/5 of total and total is (w1+water 1) => 4/5 (w1+water 1)
Next time the quantity of w1 will reduce as we are left with only 4/5*w1. Add 10 liter water and water becomes 4/5(water1)+10

Again when you take out 10, the ratio left is 4/5. It has nothing to do with what is inside that mixture, but due to the fact that we have removed 10 out of 59 again.

Now we will be left with 4/5*4/5(w1)
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An easier way to think of it is -

Let X be the total liquid -

X-8 is removed each round from X ltrs of liquid and this process repeats 4 times

The remaining ratio is 16:81

So, (X-8/X)^4 = 16:81

(X-8)/X = 2:3

X = 24
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