Question: Dividing an Inheritance

Comment on Dividing an Inheritance

Conference Ticket Advance Discounts
5-29 days in advance -> 15%
30-59 days in advance -> 30%
60-89 days in advance -> 40%

Helen bought a ticket for $252. If she hadd bought it 1 day later, she would have paid $306. How many days in advance did she buy her ticket?

What if I take out 15perctange of 306 then subtract it from total to found out 260 which is little more than 252 . So we know that it would be between 30 to 59 or 30 percent
gmat-admin's picture

I'm sorry, but I don't follow your steps. Can you elaborate?

Aside: my solution to that question can be found here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/conference-ticket-advance-discounts-5-29-days...

hi brent, when calculating 1/3 of 27,000, of course i know the answer, but why does the formula you taught in fractions work: i.e. part/whole = %/100 which would be x/27000=33/100. cross multiplying gives a value of 8910. yet 1/3 of 27000 is 9000.

Whats happening here?
gmat-admin's picture

Good question, Yianni.

Notice that your calculation of 8910 is a bit smaller than the actual answer of 9000.

The reason for this is that 1/3 is not the same as 33%

In decimal form, 1/3 = 0.333333333333...

So, in percent form, 1/3 = 33.333333333333...%

Since you used 33% (rather than 33.333333333333...%), your calculation was a little bit less than it should be, because 33.333333333333...% is a little bit less than 33%.

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

eyalfuhrer's picture

Brent, your ability to understand and to explain is amazing!
I am teaching nuclear physics, so I am familiar with teaching, and still impressed by you.

In your answers, you first clarify as a starting point the requirement, what do they ask. Then your explanation is very clear to understand it in own way.
Often i can understand a statement in multiple ways.

Thank you Brent, not for this question,
For all your answers!
Eyal
gmat-admin's picture

Hi Eyal,
Thanks for taking the time to say such nice things. I appreciate it!

Cheers and have a great day!
Brent

Explaining even the tiniest of glitches...Way to go Brent! It seems you preempted every possible way a student can go wrong and then clarified them with absolute precision!
gmat-admin's picture

Nice of you to say. Thanks!

I think I just made a common mistake here...
My answer is 81000, however, I do noticed why my thoughts are wrong here, the 27000 dollars are not included for the wife.
gmat-admin's picture

That's correct.
$81,000 represents the total value of Mr. Kwan's estate.
So, if we divide that into a 6:1:2 ratio, we get: 54,000:9,000:18,000, which means his wife received $54,000

Hey Brent,
Correct me if im wrong,
Can we also do this way?

Total combined for Son and Daughter: 1:2= 27,000,
which means 1+2= 27,000
so, 27,000*3= Total Share, which is 81,000

The remaining Share of 81,000-27,000= 54,000, which goes to the Wife

-Abhishek
gmat-admin's picture

It's hard to tell whether your solution is mathematically sound.
When you say 1:2= 27,000, I'm assuming you're saying that the son and the daughter split $27,000 in a 1:2 ratio.
When you take 27,000 and multiply it by 3 (i.e. "27,000*3 = Total Share, which is 81,000"), I believe your rationale is that the combined inheritance that the son and the daughter receive is 1/3 the total amount, because (1+2) is 1/3 of (1+2+6)
If that's the case, then everything is perfect.

Hi Brent,

Yes, that’s my solution as well.
Thanks!

-Abhishek

Hi Brent. I feel more comfortable with the first approach we used. However, it was easy since the ratio was 6:1 so we just had to multiply 6 with the amount that the son got. If the ratio was 6:2 or 6:3 what would the multiplication have been?
gmat-admin's picture

When the ratio was 6:1, we multiplied the son's $ by 6 (to determine the mother's $). So,...
If the ratio were 6:2, we'd multiply the son's $ by 3.
If the ratio were 6:3, we'd multiply the son's $ by 2.
If the ratio were 6:k, we'd multiply the son's $ by 6/k.

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