Tips on cracking Aptitude Questions on Ratios & Proportions

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3 TIPS on cracking Aptitude Questions on Ratios
and Proportions
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Tip 1 Express each element in the ratio as a
fraction of the total for easy calculations
Question A sum of money is to be distributed
among A, B, C, D in the proportion of 2 5 4
3. If C gets Rs. 2000 more than D, what is B's
share? Solution A 2/14 T B 5/14 T C
4/14 T D 3/14 T C D 2000 4/14 T
3/14 T 2000 T 28000 gt B 5/14 T Rs.
10000
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Tip 2 You can directly perform multiplication/
division operations on ratio elements
Question Seats for Mathematics, Physics and
Biology in a school are in the ratio 5 7 8.
There is a proposal to increase these seats by
40, 50 and 75 respectively. What will be the
ratio of increased seats? Solution Before
Proposal After Proposal Mathematics Seats 5/20
T 5/20 T 1.4 Physics Seats 7/20
T 7/20 T 1.5 Biology Seats 8/20 T 8/20
T 1.75 Ratio after proposal 5/20 T 1.4
7/20 T 1.5 8/20 T 1.75 5/20
1.4 7/20 1.5 8/20 1.75 dividing by
T 5 1.4 7 1.5 8 1.75
multiplying by 20 7 10.5 14 2
3 4 dividing by 3.5 As a quick
shortcut, we can also directly multiply the ratio
elements to determine the new ratio. Ratio after
proposal (shortcut) 5 1.4 7 1.5 8
1.75 2 3 4
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Tip 3 Ensure that the units for the numerator
and denominator match across the equation
Question Ken can walk 40 dogs in 8 hours. How
many dogs can Ken walk in 12 hours? Solution We
assume that the number of dogs walked and the
time taken are directly proportional. Number of
dogs walked aTime taken Number of dogs walked k
Time taken (k is some constant) Number of
dogs walked / Time taken k 40 / 8 x / 12
where x is count of dogs walked in 12 hours In
the above equation, numerator unit is dogs walked
and denominator unit is time taken. Ensure that
units match to avoid errors. gt x 60 dogs
walked
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