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Bag A contains red, white and blue marbles such that the red to white marble ratio is 1:3 and the white to blue marble ratio is 2:3. Bag B contains red and white marbles in the ratio of 1:4. Together, the two bags contain 30 white marbles. How many [highlight]red marbles could be in bag A[/highlight]? [/[color=#40FF00]color]

a 1
b 3
c 4
d 6
e 8

Bag A:
R:W = 1:3
W:B = 2:3
W is the common one here so make it equal i.e. R:W = 2:6 and W:B = 6:9 (the ratios remain the same). So R:W:B = 2:6:9
Since number of marbles has to be an integer, number of red marbles in this bag must be 2 or a multiple of 2 and number of white marbles must be 6 or a multiple of 6.

Bag B:
R:W = 1:4
The number of white marbles must be 4 or a multiple of 4.

To make 30 white marbles, you could mix white marbles from Bag A and Bag B in many ways.
BagA: 6 + BagB: 24 (No. of red marbles in BagA = 2)
BagA: 12 + BagB: 18 - Not possible because 18 is not a multiple of 4
BagA: 18 + BagB: 12 (No. of red marbles in BagA = 6)
BagA: 24 + BagB: 6 - Not possible because 6 is not a multiple of 4

No of red marbles in bag A can be both 2 and 6. Answer (D)
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Bag A
R:W = 1:3
W:B = 2:3
R:W:B = 2:6:9

Because the proportion of 2:6:9 must hold constant, the number of white marbles in Bag A has to equal 6n, where n is a positive integer.

Bag B
R:W = 1:4

Because the proportion of 1:4 must hold constant, the number of white marbles in Bag B has to equal 4m, where m is a positive integer.

Given that there are a total of 30 white marbles, 30 = 6n + 4m. Given that m and n are both positive integers:

(m,n) = (3,3),(6,1)

If n = 1, the number of red marbles in Bag A = 2.
If n = 3, the number of red marbles in Bag A = 6.

Since 6 is the only answer among the 5 that satisfies the above conditions, the answer is D.
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Bag A contains red, white and blue marbles such that the red to white marble ratio is 1:3 and the white to blue marble ratio is 2:3. Bag B contains red and white marbles in the ratio of 1:4. Together, the two bags contain 30 white marbles. How many red marbles could be in bag A?

A. 1
B. 3
C. 4
D. 6
E. 8

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The ratio for bag A is 2:6:9 for red to white to blue marbles. You can get this number by multiplying the ration of red to white marbles by two to get 2:6, then multiplying the white to blue ration by three to get 6:9 and you can put them all together to get 2:6:9

The ratio of bag B equals 1:4 of red to white marbles and 0 blue marbles.

The problem also tells us that together the two bags contain 30 white marbles. This means that 6x+4y=30. There are two different combinations that work for this. x and y could both be 3. That would mean the total number of red marbles in bag A would be 6, which is D.

You could also have y=6 and x=1 and the total number of red marbles in bag A would be 2, but that is not an answer choice, so you would have to keep looking.
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Bunuel,

it took me 3 minutes to solve this one. can you please suggest some more questions like this one to practice upon?
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Blueblu
Bunuel,

it took me 3 minutes to solve this one. can you please suggest some more questions like this one to practice upon?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,

I did this question in below way . Experts Please let me know if there is any flaw in this approach .

No. of R:W in Bag A = 1/3
No. of R:W in Bag B = 1/4
Total in bag A + B WHITE = 30

which means 1X/3+1Y/4 = 30
Now lets make possible pair and X,Y have to be multiple of 3 , 4 so that ans comes in integer .
(3,17 ) = 30 BUT 17 IS NOT DIVISIBLE BY 1/4 so REJECT .
(6,24) = ACCEPT as 1 * 6 /3 is an integer and Y=24 means 1* 24/4 is an integer and both totals to 30 .
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Hi Bunuel

When I take: 6x + 4y = 30 and plug in values

Than i get two valid answers , 4 and 6.

It seems for some reason it good to simply the equation always ? is there any logic to this ? thanks
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vigneshpandi
Bag A contains red, white and blue marbles such that the red to white marble ratio is 1:3 and the white to blue marble ratio is 2:3. Bag B contains red and white marbles in the ratio of 1:4. Together, the two bags contain 30 white marbles. How many red marbles could be in bag A?

A. 1
B. 3
C. 4
D. 6
E. 8


We can try the answer choices...took wayyyy longer to type this out than it did to actually do the problem...

A: 1 ARed means 3 AWhite. 3 AWhite means (3/2)*3 ABlue...oh, that's not going to work...A is out.

B: 3 ARed means 9 AWhite. 9 AWhite means (9/2)*3...same...B is out.

C: 4 ARed means 12 AWhite. Bag B contains a multiple of 4 white marbles. We can't get to 30 white. C is out.

D: 6 ARed means 18 AWhite. 18 AWhite means (18/2)*3 = 27 ABlue. 18 AWhite means we need 12 more white. That's possible.

Answer choice D.
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Please confirm if this method is correct:
Bag A: R:W:B=2:6:9

Bag B: R:W=1:4

Total W= 30

6 parts of bag A and 4 part of bag b=30
1 part =30/10=3

Thus

Bag A has: 2*3 red balls, 6*3 white balls and 9*3 blue balls

Answer is 6 D
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