GAT Practice

If Aarti and Rita can do a job in 8 hours (working together at their respective constant rates) and Aarti
can do the job alone in 12 hours. In how many hours can Rita do the job alone?

Sol: Let Rita does the work in R days. Using basic work formula the equation would be 1/12 + 1/R =

⇒ 8R + 96 = 12R
1/8

⇒ 96 = 4R
⇒ 24 = R Working alone, Rita can do the job in 24 hours.

Or
Besides that one more approach can be applied in the work and time questions i.e. the unit
approach. Time and work short tricks can be applied in this case, as the numbers used are 8 hours &
12 hours, let the work be equal to 24 units (which is the LCM of 8 & 12). Now as they finish the work
in 8 hours working together, that implies together they do 24/8 = 3 units an hour. Working alone
Aarti does this work in 12 hours, so Aarti alone does 24/12 = 2 units an hour. That means Rita will be
doing 3 – 2 = 1 unit per hour. The total work is 24 units, which Rita can finish the work of her own in
24/1 = 24 hours.

Example 2: A can do a piece of work in 60 days, which B can do in 40 days. Both started the work but
A left 10 days before the completion of the work. The work was finished in how many days?

Sol: A left the job 10 days before the completion. So, B worked alone for the last 10 days. First, we
will calculate B’s 10 days work, which he did alone.
In 10 days B will do 10 × 1/40 = 1/4th of the work.
Remaining work 1 - ¼ = ¾ (Which A and B have done together). A and B can do 1/60 + 1/40 work in 1
day. Their one-day’s work is 1/60 + 1/40 = (2 + 3)/120 = 5/120 = 1/24. They can finish the work in 24
days.

⇒ Total days = 18 + 10 = 28.

They would have done three-fourth of the work in 24 × 3/4 = 18 days.

Or
As discussed earlier in time work questions, time and work tricks like the unit approach can also be
applied. In this case, as the numbers used are 60 & 40, let the work be equal to 120 units. That
implies A does 120/60 = 2 units a day, whereas B alone does 120/40 = 3 units a day. That means
working alone B would have done 3 × 10 = 30 units. The remaining 120 – 30 = 90 units of work has
been done by them together. They do 2 + 3 = 5 units a day working together, thus they would have
finished 90 units in 90/5 = 18 days. Hence the total work was finished in 18 + 10 = 28 days.

A can do a piece of work in 24 days and B in 20 days but with the help of C they finished the work in
8 days. C alone can do the work in how many days?

(1/C) = (1/8) - (1/A) - (1/B) ⇒ (1/C) = (1/8) - (1/24) - (1/20) ⇒ (1/C) = (1/30)
Sol: Using work formula here (1/A) + (1/B) + (1/C) = (1/8)

C can do this work in 30 days.

Or
You can take the total work to be equal to 120 units (the LCM of 24, 20 & 8). That implies A does
120/24 = 5 units a day, B does 120/20 = 6 units a day. Together they finished the work in 8 days
statement 5 + 6 + c = 15 ⇒ c = 4 units. Now if C does 4 units a day, he can finish the work in 120/4 =
means they are doing 120/8 = 15 units a day. Let the units done by C per day be = c. Now as per the

30 days.

Example 4: If machine X can produce 1,000 bolts in 8 hours and machine Y can produce 1,000 bolts
in 24 hours. In how many hours can machines X and Y, working together at these constant rates,
produce 1,000 bolts?

Sol: Using formula for work: 1/8 + 1/24 = 1/h ⇒ 4/24 = 1/6. Working together, machines X and Y can
produce 1,000 bolts in 6 hours.

Example 5: A and B can do a piece of work in 36 days, B and C in 48 days, A and C can do this work in
72 days. In what time can they do it all working together?

Sol: A and B’s one day’s work = 1/36. B and C’s one day’s work = 1/48. C and A’s one day’s work =
1/72.
If we add all this it will give us the work of 2A, 2B and 2C in 1 day i.e. (1/36) + (1/48) + (1/72) + (1/16)
That also implies that A, B and C’s one day’s work will be half of this i.e. (1/2) x (1/16) = (1/32)
From here it can found that they will complete the work in 32 days.

Example 6: A can do as much work in 6 days as C in 10 days. B can do as much work in 6 days as C
can do in 4 days. What time would B require to do a work if A takes 48 days to finish it?

Sol. A : C :: 6 : 10 or (A/C) = (3/5) and B : C :: 6 : 4 or (B/C) = (3/2), (B/A) =(B/C) x (C/A) = (3/2) x (5/3) =

Therefore, B = (5/2) x A ⇒ (5/2) x 48 = 120 days.

(5/2)

Example 4: If machine X can produce 1,000 bolts in 8 hours and machine Y can produce 1,000 bolts
in 24 hours. In how many hours can machines X and Y, working together at these constant rates,
produce 1,000 bolts?

Sol: Using formula for work: 1/8 + 1/24 = 1/h ⇒ 4/24 = 1/6. Working together, machines X and Y can
produce 1,000 bolts in 6 hours.

Example 5: A and B can do a piece of work in 36 days, B and C in 48 days, A and C can do this work in
72 days. In what time can they do it all working together?

Sol: A and B’s one day’s work = 1/36. B and C’s one day’s work = 1/48. C and A’s one day’s work =
1/72.
If we add all this it will give us the work of 2A, 2B and 2C in 1 day i.e. (1/36) + (1/48) + (1/72) + (1/16)
That also implies that A, B and C’s one day’s work will be half of this i.e. (1/2) x (1/16) = (1/32)
From here it can found that they will complete the work in 32 days.

Example 6: A can do as much work in 6 days as C in 10 days. B can do as much work in 6 days as C
can do in 4 days. What time would B require to do a work if A takes 48 days to finish it?

Sol. A : C :: 6 : 10 or (A/C) = (3/5) and B : C :: 6 : 4 or (B/C) = (3/2), (B/A) =(B/C) x (C/A) = (3/2) x (5/3) =

Therefore, B = (5/2) x A ⇒ (5/2) x 48 = 120 days.

(5/2)

In a bag, there are a certain number of toy-blocks with alphabets A, B, C and D written on them. The
ratio of blocks A:B:C:D is in the ratio 4:7:3:1. If the number of ‘A’ blocks is 50 more than the number
of ‘C’ blocks, what is the number of ‘B’ blocks?
Solution:

Let the number of the blocks A,B,C,D be 4x, 7x, 3x and 1x respectively

4x = 3x + 50 → x = 50.

So the number of ‘B’ blocks is 7*50 = 350.

A can do a certain work in the same time in which B and C together can do it. If A and B together
could do it in 10 days and C alone in 50 days, then B alone could do it in:

15 days

20 days

25 days

30 days

Answer: Option

Explanation:

1
(A + B)'s 1 day's work =
10

1
C's 1 day's work =
50

1 1 6 3
(A + B + C)'s 1 day's work = + = = . .... (i)
10 50 50 25

A's 1 day's work = (B + C)'s 1 day's work .... (ii)

3
From (i) and (ii), we get: 2 x (A's 1 day's work) =
25

3
A's 1 day's work = .
50

1 3 2 1
B's 1 day's work - = = .
10 50 50 25

So, B alone could do the work in 25 days.

Chain rule

https://www.indiabix.com/aptitude/chain-rule/
3 pumps, working 8 hours a day, can empty a tank in 2 days. How many hours a day must 4 pumps
work to empty the tank in 1 day?

10

11

12

Answer: Option

Explanation:

Let the required number of working hours per day be x.

More pumps, Less working hours per day (Indirect Proportion)

Less days, More working hours per day (Indirect Proportion)

Pump
4 : 3
s :: 8 :
x
Days 1 : 2

4x1xx=3x2x8

(3 x 2 x 8)
x=
(4)

x = 12.

f the cost of x metres of wire is d rupees, then what is the cost of y metres of wire at the same rate?

x
Rs. y

Rs. (xd)

Rs. (yd)

y
Rs. d

Answer: Option

Explanation:

Cost of x metres = Rs. d.

 d
Cost of 1 metre = Rs.
x

y
Cost of y metres = Rs. d . = Rs. d
y
x x .

Running at the same constant rate, 6 identical machines can produce a total of 270 bottles per
minute. At this rate, how many bottles could 10 such machines produce in 4 minutes?

648

1800

2700

10800

Answer: Option

Explanation:

Let the required number of bottles be x.

More machines, More bottles (Direct Proportion)

More minutes, More bottles (Direct Proportion)

Machines 6 : 10
:: 270 :
x
Time (in minutes) 1 : 4

6 x 1 x x = 10 x 4 x 270

(10 x 4 x 270)
x=
(6)

x = 1800.

n order to obtain an income of Rs. 650 from 10% stock at Rs. 96, one must make an investment of:

Rs. 3100

Rs. 6240

Rs. 6500

Rs. 9600
Answer: Option

Explanation:

To obtain Rs. 10, investment = Rs. 96.

96
x
To obtain Rs. 650, investment = Rs. = Rs. 6240.
10 650

Discussion:

51 comments Page 1 of 6.

Newest

Poojasaid: 3 years ago

@Namit Jain.

Thanks for explaining it so clearly!

(4)

Rahul Guptasaid: 4 years ago

Here,

Market Price=96 Rs.

Dividend=10% of face value(since, here face value is not given so we take it as 100 Rs).
= profit per share =(10/100)*100=10 Rs.

This means,
On buying a share at the market price of 96 Rs earning is 10 Rs.
Therefore,
In order to earn 1 Rs as a profit, we have to invest = (96/10) = 9.6 Rs.

So,
To earn 650 Rs.
We have to invest = 650 * 9.6 = 6240 Rs.
Therefore, the answer will be option B.