Register    Login    Search    Rss Feeds

 Page 1 of 1 [ 13 posts ] 



 
Author Message
 Post subject: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:10 pm 
Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at constant speeds. Gear P makes 10 revolutions per minute, and gear Q makes 40 revolutions per minute. How many seconds after the gears start rotating will gear Q have made exactly 6 more revolutions than gear P?

GMAT PREP EXAM 1

The correct answer is 12.

Could someone solve this problem so I can compare to what I got. I just want to make sure I understand this problem. Your input is greatly appreciated...


Top 
 Post subject:
 Post Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:44 am 
P-> 10 rev/ min, i.e. 10 rev/60 sec = 1 rev in 6 secs or it takes 6 secs to take 1 rev.
Q-> 40 rev/ min, i.e. 60 rev/60 sec = 4 rev in 6 secs or it takes 6 secs to take 4 rev.

Please see that in 6 secs Q takes a lead of 3 revs when compared to A. Therefore in 12 secs, the lead will be by 6revs. Hence answer is 12secs :wink:


Top 
 Post subject: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:57 am 
(40/60 -10/60)*T =6
1/2 T =6
T =12


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time a
 Post Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:55 pm 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 7146
Anonymous wrote:
Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at constant speeds. Gear P makes 10 revolutions per minute, and gear Q makes 40 revolutions per minute. How many seconds after the gears start rotating will gear Q have made exactly 6 more revolutions than gear P?

GMAT PREP EXAM 1

The correct answer is 12.

Could someone solve this problem so I can compare to what I got. I just want to make sure I understand this problem. Your input is greatly appreciated...


the solutions posted above are good - one intuitive, one algebraic - and i don't have much to add to them. if you need further explanation, especially of the genesis of the algebraic solution, post back and i can flesh it out a little bit.

with numbers like this, you could also just 'grind' the problem until you find numbers that work.
specifically:
gear p makes ten revolutions per minute, so that's one revolution every 6 seconds.
gear q rotates four times as fast, so that's four revolutions every 6 seconds.

just make a table until you get a difference of 6 revs:

seconds ... revs P ... revs Q
6 ............... 1 ........... 4
12 .............. 2 ........... 8
we have a winner.

this method has obvious limitations, and will crash and burn if the problem contains numbers less friendly than the ones here, but it works admirably in this particular case.


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:08 am 
Offline
Students


Posts: 2
Hi Ron,

Can you flesh the algebra part as well?

is T the time difference in seconds?

Cheers
Vatsan


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:31 pm 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 823
We want everything in seconds because the answer asks for seconds.
The rate for gear P is 10 revolution/1 minute, or 10 revolutions / 60 seconds. The rate for gear Q is 40 revolutions/1 minute or 40 revolutions / 60 seconds. Obviously gear Q is faster than gear P.

The number of revolutions P makes will be r*t = (10/60)*T, while the number of revolutions Q makes will be r*t = (40/60)*T. If Q makes 6 more revolutions than P, then (40/60)T - (10/60)T = 6.


The rest can be solved algebraically as done above.
(40/60 -10/60)*T =6
1/2 T =6
T =12

Hope that helps.

_________________
Ben Ku
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:37 pm 
Offline
Course Students


Posts: 13
Ben Ku wrote:
We want everything in seconds because the answer asks for seconds.
The rate for gear P is 10 revolution/1 minute, or 10 revolutions / 60 seconds. The rate for gear Q is 40 revolutions/1 minute or 40 revolutions / 60 seconds. Obviously gear Q is faster than gear P.

The number of revolutions P makes will be r*t = (10/60)*T, while the number of revolutions Q makes will be r*t = (40/60)*T. If Q makes 6 more revolutions than P, then (40/60)T - (10/60)T = 6.


The rest can be solved algebraically as done above.
(40/60 -10/60)*T =6
1/2 T =6
T =12

Hope that helps.


Ben,

Thanks for your explanation, I got the same answer but negative can you tell me why my algebraic expression is incorrect?

RATE TIME DIST
P 1/6 T d
Q 2/3 T 6+d

1/6T=2/3T+6
T=-36/3
T=-12 seconds


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:50 pm 
Offline
Course Students


Posts: 21
Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at constant speeds. Gear P makes 10 revolutions per minute, and gear Q makes 40 revolutions per minute. How many seconds after the gears start rotating will gear Q have made exactly 6 more revolutions than gear P?

I guess the important information here is gears are rotating at constant speeds.
P -> 10/60 seconds
Q -> 40/60 seconds
Overall, Q gains 30 revolutions over 60 seconds -> 1 revolution for every 2 seconds
So, to gain 6 revolutions Q needs 12 seconds.

Algebraically,
30/60 = 6/x
=> x = 6 * 60/30
=> x = 12
Therefore, Q needs 12 seconds to gain 6 revolutions.

Hope this helps.

-Champ


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:14 am 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 7146
zchampz wrote:
Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at constant speeds. Gear P makes 10 revolutions per minute, and gear Q makes 40 revolutions per minute. How many seconds after the gears start rotating will gear Q have made exactly 6 more revolutions than gear P?

I guess the important information here is gears are rotating at constant speeds.
P -> 10/60 seconds
Q -> 40/60 seconds
Overall, Q gains 30 revolutions over 60 seconds -> 1 revolution for every 2 seconds
So, to gain 6 revolutions Q needs 12 seconds.

Algebraically,
30/60 = 6/x
=> x = 6 * 60/30
=> x = 12
Therefore, Q needs 12 seconds to gain 6 revolutions.

Hope this helps.

-Champ


you can do this, too. this falls under the category of "relative rates" (as discussed in the strategy guide).

note that the strategy guide discusses "relative rates" for linear motion (i.e., things moving in a straight line), but it works just as well for examples of circular motion (such as this example).

nicely done.


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:16 pm 
Offline
Students


Posts: 3
Can anyone tell me if the following line of reasoning correct :

Say x= no.of revolutions made by P in time 't'
Then the question asks that what is 't' (in sec) in which Q does 'x+6' revolutions(i.e. 6 more revolutions than P).

W R T
X 10/60 = 1/6 t
X+6 40/60=2/3 t


x(1/6)= (x+6)2/3
x=2

Hence, t = W/R = x/R= 12sec


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:01 am 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 2206
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
Yes, this is just fine..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 10:33 am 
Offline
Students


Posts: 3
Thank You , Tim !


Top 
 Post subject: Re: Circular gears P and Q start rotating at the same time at co
 Post Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 10:14 pm 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 7146
lots of good solutions in this thread.

as a closing remark, notice that this should be the way you approach problems: try not to be satisfied with just one solution; try to find as many solutions as you possibly can.

this principle has added importance because -- don't forget -- the problems on the official exam are NOT going to be like the problems on your practice tests. therefore, it's more important than it otherwise would be to find alternate solutions: the alternate solutions may seem like a nuisance here, but they may be the key to your solving another problem down the road (on which your first attempt doesn't work).

this includes the idea that, even if you find a problem terribly easy, you should still go back and see whether you can find other ways of solving it.


Top 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
 
 Page 1 of 1 [ 13 posts ] 





Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

 
 

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: