Question: Three Flasks

Comment on Three Flasks

I did find the solution in another way. I multiplied 1/6 from flask one by 1/2 and 1/8 from flask two by half. Then I summed up the both fractions 1/12 from flask one and 1/16 from flask two to get 1/6. Is this a correct way of doing it?
gmat-admin's picture

Unfortunately, that approach is incorrect; it just happened to work with the numbers given in the question.
If we were to change the question so that one flask was 1/6 full, one flask was 1/7 full, and one flask was 1/12, the correct answer would still be 1/6. However, your approach would yield an incorrect answer.

I used this approach: since the water poured into all the flasks are of equal volumes, then the question really requires that half of the water poured in the largest flask will be poured back into it twice. i.e 1/12 + 1/24 + 1/24. Is this a correct way of doing it?
gmat-admin's picture

That's a valid approach - nice work!

This seems to be an another approach, need you all to review and confirm.

1.) Since we know that all three have equal quantities of water initially and we have removed 1/2 of 1st two flasks.

2.) 2 halfs = 1/12 of 3rd flask.

3.) New water level in the 3rd flask = 1/12(newly added) + 1/12 (previous level) = 2* 1/2 = 1/6.

Thanks

gmat-admin's picture

There are several ways to solve this question. Your solution is perfect.

hi sir,

i have a doubt in this question. actually u said with highest denominator is the smallest value. but, in the above question it is incorrect. 1/12 is the largest flask in above question.
gmat-admin's picture

I'm not sure what part of the video you're referring to. I re-watched the video twice, and I couldn't find any part where I said (or even suggested) that "the highest denominator is the smallest value."

What I did was I realized each of the flasks has 1/3 of the water. And once I figured out which the two smallest ones were. I just divided 1/3 of the water from flask one by half and 1/3 of the water in flask 2 by half as well. This gave me 1/6ths for both. And then I added them together to get 1/3rd. Once I realized the largest flask will just be doubling what's already in there (1/3) if we added this new amount, I just doubled 1/12 to get 2/12 or 1/6. Is this an okay way to do it?
gmat-admin's picture

That works for me!

I dont understand why you say 1/12 is the tank with the highest volume its not specified anywhere in the question. When solving it i converted the fractions to deimals to find out which one is the smallest, then multiply half of the smallest fractions to add to the biggest fraction.
gmat-admin's picture

They key idea is that we're pouring an EQUAL VOLUME of water into all three containers. The greater the capacity of a container, the smaller the fraction that it is full.

For example, if you pour 1 liter of water into a certain vase, it becomes 1/2 full. If you pour 1 liter of water into a certain swimming pool, it becomes 1/10,000 full.

Since the pool has a much greater capacity than the vase, the fraction 1/10,000 is much less than 1/2

Hi Brent, I understand your example but still not sure how to apply it to question to make sense.

As I thought 1/12 is the smallest contatainer here compare to the other two? Therefore not sure why are we pouring 1/2 of water from the 1/6 and 1/8 into 1/12? Thanks Brent
gmat-admin's picture

We are told that each flask contains the same volume of water.
So, let's say that each flask contains 1 liter of water.
So, if the CAPACITY of flask A is 6 liters, then flask A will be 1/6 full.
If the CAPACITY of flask B is 8 liters, then flask B will be 1/8 full.
If the CAPACITY of flask C is 12 liters, then flask C will be 1/12 full.

Among the three flasks, which one is the biggest (i.e., which flask has the greatest capacity?)
The flask with a capacity of 12 liters will be the biggest flask.

Oh my god...this is such a great trap of question. Surely I will miss this thought if it's in exam condition due to the way is written.
Noted now thanks Brent

hey just a question for a better understanding:

we cannot just simply add 50% of 1/6 and 50% of 1/8 to 1/12 since we do not know the individual capacities of the three flasks, right ?
gmat-admin's picture

No that won't work. Keep in mind that the two smaller flasks each contain the SAME volume of water. So, 50% of the volume in one small flask must be EQUAL to 50% of the volume in one small flask.

So, based on your suggestion, it would have to be the case that 50% of 1/6 = 50% of 1/8, however those two values are NOT equal.

Hi Brent! Thanks for the awesome content. What level of a question is this? 700+?
gmat-admin's picture

I'd place it around 700-level.

Hey, please help me to explain why my first solution is wrong:

1/6 = 8/48 = Flask one
1/8 full = 6/48 = Flask two
1/12 ful = 4/48 = Flask three (the biggest)

When i poure now one half from 14/48 (8/48 + 6/48) into the biggest one, my solution is the following: 7/48 + 4/48 = 11/48

Thanks !
gmat-admin's picture

The problem is that you are adding fractions when you need to be adding actual volumes. When you add fractions, you are assuming that each vase has the same capacity, which they don't.

Here's what I mean:

Let's say that a vase can hold 2 liters in total and a pool can hold 2,000,000 liters in total.

Now let's say that both the vase and the pool are half full of water. That is, the vase contains 1 liter of water, and the pool contains 1,000,000 liters of water.

Now, what happens if we pour half of the water from the vase into the pool?

CORRECT SOLUTION: Adding volumes

Half of 2 liters = 1 liter. So, I'm pouring 1 liter of water into the pool, which means the pool now holds 1,000,001 liters of water.

So, 1,000,001/2,000,000 = the fraction of the pool that is now full.

INCORRECT SOLUTION: Adding fractions
The vase is 1/2 full and the pool is 1/2 full.
We can also say that the vase is 2/4 full
So, HALF of the vase's water = 1/4

When we add the vase's 1/4 to the pool's 1/2, we get: 1/2 + 1/4 = 3/4

Can we now say that the pool is 3/4 full? No.

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

My way of answering this question as follows

I assume that the total capacity of each flask is the denominator

So in the 1/12, I assume that the capacity is 12 liters (for example) and it contains 1 liter of water.

In the 1/8, I assume that the capacity is 8 liters (for example) and it contains 1 liter of water.

In the 1/6, I assume that the capacity is 6 liters (for example) and it contains 1 liter of water.

If we take half of both tanks 1/8 and 1/6, we get 1 liter only
Adding this 1 liter to 1/12, we got 2/12 which is equal to 1/6

What do you think about this approach?
gmat-admin's picture

That's a perfectly valid approach. Nice work!

Best approach for my understanding.

Thank You

https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-a-200-member-association-consisting-of-men-and-women-106175.html
pls help with this sir
Torkuma Teekay Gbaa's picture

I absolutely LOVE this question. I can't stop watching the video. I love how its more about visualizing the problem rather than solving the problem. An approach I've used to easily solve most difficult GMAT quant questions that used to stomp me.

Thank you Brent. Thank you very much!

Hey, Could you please guide me as to how is Q368 in 2019 OG (DS) solved for statement 1 . i am unable to tell how that statement is sufficient.
gmat-admin's picture

Hi Brent,

The way I tried to solve it in the first place is as follows:

1/6 1/8 1/12
1/2 * 1/6 = 1/12
1/2 * 1/8 = 1/16

Then I added these fractions to the larger flask (1/12)
1/12 + 1/16 + 1/12 = 4/48 + 3/48 + 4/48 = 11/48

As you can see, I did not find a solution.
Now your solution makes perfect sense, I was just curious where I went wrong and if the way I tried is possible as well?
Thanks!

Kind Regards,
Glenn
gmat-admin's picture

Hi Glenn,

That's a good idea.
However, this approach will require us the assign some variables to the capacity of each flask.

For example, we might says that:
x = capacity of smallest flask
y = capacity of medium-sized flask
z = capacity of largest flask

At first, each flask contains EQUAL VOLUMES.
So, we can write: (1/6 of x) = (1/8 of y) = (1/12 of z)

So, one-half of the liquid in the smallest flask = (1/2) of (1/6 of x)
= (1/2) of (1/12 of z)
= (1/24) of z

And, one-half of the liquid in the medium flask = (1/2) of (1/8 of y)
= (1/2) of (1/12 of z)
= (1/24) of z

------------------------

(1/24) of z + (1/24) of z = (1/12) of z

So, we are adding (1/12) of z to (1/12) of z
We get (1/6) of z

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

Hi Brent,

Yes, all clear!
Thanks!

Kind regards,
Glenn

Yeah I did the exact same thing! But the key to this concept is that it's all EQUAL VOLUME.
gmat-admin's picture

Agreed - that's the key

A certain library assesses fines for overdue books as follows. On the first day that a book is overdue, the total fine is $0.10. For each additional day that the book is overdue, the total fine is either increased by $0.30 or doubled, whichever results in the lesser amount. What is the total fine for a book on the fourth day it is overdue?

$0.60

$0.70

$0.80

$0.90

$1.00

How is the answer 0.7?
gmat-admin's picture

Hi Brent,

I understand that since equal volumes of water was poured into three flasks, the fraction of the flasks filled with water didn't matter. So it was just half + half = one.

But what if the flasks were filled with unequal amount of water ? Would this be a valid question and if so how would be solve this?
gmat-admin's picture

Good question. If the flasks were filled with UNEQUAL amounts of water, then the question would be unsolvable.

I found another way of finding the solution. I applied a number to it by using the LCM for 6,8 and 12.

A= 24/144 (1/6)
B= 24/192 (1/8)
C= 24/288 (1/12)

I took half of the two smaller flasks (24) in the largest flask and got 48/288 which is 1/6
gmat-admin's picture

That's a perfectly valid solution. Nice work!!!

This was a fun thought problem that is masquerading as a maths problem.

Since one equal portion of water raises the level to 1/12ths full, if all of the water was poured into the flask it would be (1+1+1)/12ths or 3/12ths full. But since we're only adding one full portion and two half portions, its (1+.5+.5)/12ths or 2/12ths full, which simplifies to 1/6th.
gmat-admin's picture

Perfectly reasoned, Hyord.

Am I wrong with the below approach. Although I am getting wrong ans but I think approach is right so do let me know if I am thinking wrong.


Since the volume remains same so,
1/6+1/8+1/12 = 1/12+1/16(since halved) +(?)
Now I shall solve for ?

although I am not getting the reqd. ans. let me know if this approach seems to be right or wrong?
gmat-admin's picture

The problem is that 1/6, 1/8 and 1/12 aren't individual fractions; they're fractions OF some capacity.
If we let A, B and C be the CAPACITIES of the 3 flasks, then we can write:
(1/6 of A) + (1/8 of B) + (1/12 of C) = (1/12 of A) + (1/16 of B) + (x of C).
Unfortunately, I don't believe this equation can be solved for x.

I get a different answer. Please help review and correct my calculation logic here.

I understood from the problem that 1/2 of the water from each of the two smallest flasks were supposed to be 0.5/6 or 4/24 from the 1/6 and 1.5/24 from 1/8. Is it not correct to pull out half of the water from each flask by calculating half of the total water in each flask? Why can we assume that the problem would like us to use half of the water the largest flask here?
gmat-admin's picture

That's a good idea, but there are issues.
We can't say that half the water in the first flask = 4/24 and half the water in the second flask is 1.5/24.
Remember, each flask contains the same amound of water.
So, half the volume in the first flask must equal half the water in the second flask.
Using your values it must be true that 4/24 = 1.5/24,(which is clearly false.)

Using your approach will require us the assign some variables to the capacity of each flask.

For example, we might says that:
x = capacity of smallest flask
y = capacity of medium-sized flask
z = capacity of largest flask

At first, each flask contains EQUAL VOLUMES.
So, we can write: (1/6 of x) = (1/8 of y) = (1/12 of z)

So, one-half of the liquid in the smallest flask = (1/2) of (1/6 of x)
= (1/2) of (1/12 of z)
= (1/24) of z

And, one-half of the liquid in the medium flask = (1/2) of (1/8 of y)
= (1/2) of (1/12 of z)
= (1/24) of z

------------------------

(1/24) of z + (1/24) of z = (1/12) of z

So, we are adding (1/12) of z to (1/12) of z
We get (1/6) of z

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

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