Linda, Robert and Pat packed a certain number of boxes with books. What is the ration of the number of books that Robert packed to the number of books that PAt packed?

1 Linda packed 30% of all the boxes
2 Robert packed 10 boxes more than Pat.

Thanks!!

Ruben

First, I assume that "ration" is supposed to read "ratio"? :) Also, is this definitely a GMATPrep problem? I would have expected them to say that there were no partial boxes packed or something like that - I guess it doesn't really matter. Just surprising.

A ratio tells us the relative amounts of something but not the absolute amounts. Since they're asking for a ratio, we only need to know how much Robert packs relative to Pat - we don't necessarily need to know their exact, actual amounts. The ratio, however must be constant - that is, I have to find one definitive ratio.

Statement 1 tells us that Linda packed 30% relative to the others. The others, therefore, combined to pack 70%. This doesn't let us know what Robert packed relative to Pat, though. Not sufficient; eliminate A and D.

Statement 2 tells us that Robert packed 10 boxes more than Pat. This tells us a relative amount but is not sufficient to calculate a single, constant ratio. For example, Robert could have packed 20 to Pat's 10, for a ratio of 20:10 or 2:1. Or Robert could have packed 30 to Pat's 20, for a ratio of 30:20, or 3:2. Those are different ratios, so not sufficient. Eliminate B.

Combining the statements: If the boxes total 100, then according to the first statement, L packed 30 and R+P packed 70. The second statement means that R packed 40 and P packed 30, for a ratio of 40:30 or 4:3. If the boxes total 20, then L packed 4 and R+P packed 16. In this case, R packed 13 and P packed 3, for a ratio of 13:3, which can't be simplified. Those are different ratios, so not sufficient. Eliminate C. (Note: you can pick any numbers you want to test this, so use numbers that are easy for you.)

Answer is E.

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ManhattanGMAT

heh, yes. looks good.

of course, this doesn't affect the fact that the answer to the problem is (e). but, good eyes.