Problem Solving

0.036 × 10 a
1. If = 4 × 105, then a – b =
0.09 × 10 b

7
6
5
4
3

2.

O
•
18°

To create a part for a certain piece of

machinery, four equal-size wedge-shaped
pieces are cut and removed from a circular
piece of metal, as illustrated in the figure
above. If the unshaded portion of the circle
represents the material remaining after the
pieces are removed, what percentage of the
original circle remains?
10
20
25
60
80

2 10 Crash Course for the GMAT

 ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞
3. ⎜2 + 7 ⎟ ⎜2 − 7 ⎟ =
⎝ ⎠⎝ ⎠

−3 − 4 7
–3
–1
−4 − 4 7
–11

4. The number of cells killed by a virus doubles

every hour. If the number of cells killed was
initially 103, what is the number of cells killed
after eight hours have passed?

8 ⎛⎝10 3 ⎞⎠

⎛10 3 ⎞ ⎛10 8 ⎞
⎝ ⎠⎝ ⎠

2 8 ⎛⎝10 3 ⎞⎠

2 4 ⎛⎝10 3 ⎞⎠

2 8 ⎛⎝10 8 ⎞⎠

5. For all numbers m and n, m◊ n =

(
m2 m − n ).
2
n
What is the value of 3 ◊ 2 ?

1
2
9
4
3
2
3
9

Math Drills 2 11
 6. In a certain egg-processing plant, every egg
must be inspected, and is either accepted for
processing or is rejected. For every 96 eggs
accepted for processing, 4 eggs are rejected.
If 12 additional eggs were accepted on one
day, but the overall number of eggs inspected
remained the same so that the ratio of
accepted eggs to rejected eggs was 99 to 1,
how many eggs does the plant process per day?
100
300
400
3,000
4,000

7. In a 5-hour race, 6 cars consumed 480 gallons

of gas among them. If all the cars consumed
gas at the same constant rate, how much
gas would be consumed by 7 such cars in an
8-hour race?
560
654.5
768
864
896

8. If a golfer scores an average (arithmetic mean)

of p points per round of golf for r rounds, and
then scores q points in his next round, which of
the following is an expression for the golfer’s
( )
average score for the r + 1 rounds of golf?

pr + q
r +1
⎛ r + q⎞
p⎜ ⎟
⎝ r + 1⎠
p+2
p+4
p + 12

2 12 Crash Course for the GMAT

 9. In the rectangular coordinate system, the line
2y – 3x = 14 passes through each of the four
quadrants EXCEPT
I
II
IV
I and IV
II and IV

10. Of the 140 moving trucks available to rent, 82

have air conditioning, 56 have automatic
transmission, and 24 trucks have both air
conditioning and automatic transmission.
How many of the 140 trucks have neither air
conditioning nor automatic transmission?
4
16
26
28
32

11. On a certain day, a delivery driver must make 4

deliveries. He departs from the dispatch office
and travels 14 miles due west to his first
delivery. From there, his second delivery is
7 miles due north, and his third delivery is 9
miles due east of the location of his second
delivery. His last delivery is 19 miles due south
of his third. What is the distance, in miles, that
the driver must travel to return to the dispatch
office, if he travels in a straight line via the
shortest route?
33
17
13
7
It cannot be determined from the
information given.

Math Drills 2 13
 12. A 6-sided die has 3 black sides and 3 white
sides. If the die is thrown 4 times, what is the
probability that, on at least one of the throws,
the die will land with a black side up?

1
16
3
16
1
2
9
16
15
16
13. A caterer must choose 3 canapés to serve
from 12 possible selections. In how many
possible combinations can he serve the 3
canapés?
,220
,440
,660
1,100
1,320

214 Crash Course for the GMAT

 14. A group of 10 coworkers has agreed to equally
share the cost of a gift costing d dollars. If w
of the coworkers later decide not to
contribute, how much more must each of the
remaining coworkers pay toward the gift?

d
10 − w

(
d w − 10 )
10w
dw
10(10 − w)

10 − w
d
10dw
10 − w
15. A merchant prices a television at 60 percent
above wholesale. For a Presidents’ Day sale,
the merchant marks the television down by
25 percent. If he sells the television during the
Presidents’ Day sale, what percentage over
the wholesale price will he have earned?
75
50
35
25
20

Math Drills 2 15
 16. A magazine stand owner sells cups of coffee,
newspapers, and packs of gum. Compared to
the number of cups of coffee he sells, he sells
twice as many packs of gum, and three times
as many newspapers. If he charges $1.25 for a
cup of coffee, $0.50 for a newspaper, and $0.35
for a pack of gum, and sells no other items,
which of the following could be the amount of
his total gross sales on a given day?
I. $345.00
II. $58.65
III. $22.15

I only
I and II only
I and III only
II and III only
I, II and III only

17. Ten strips of paper are numbered from 1 to

10 and placed in a bag. If three numbers are
drawn from the bag at random, what is the
probability that the sum of the numbers drawn
will be odd?

1
12
5
36
15
36
1
2
11
18

2 16 Crash Course for the GMAT

 18. Three actors and two dancers have individual
auditions for a musical during the same
afternoon. If no two actors are allowed to
audition immediately following each other,
in how many different orders could the five
performers be seen?
3
6
12
24
120

19. If a = 1,248 and b = 1,152, what is the value

1
of (a2 − b2 ) 2 ?
240
360
480
600
720

20. Working together, each at his or her own

constant rate, Jeff and Ashley painted their
apartment in 6 hours. Working at his constant
rate, Jeff could have painted the whole
apartment in 10 hours. How many hours
would it have taken Ashley, working at her
constant rate, to paint the apartment?
4
12
15
16
20

Math Drills 2 17
 21. Which of the following fractions has a decimal
equivalent that terminates?

49
224
22
189
37
196
25
513
17
175

22. Jaime has n comic books. He sells one-half of

them and then gives one-third of the ones he
has left to a friend. If he has 10 comic books
left, how many did he have originally?
30
40
60
80
90

23. Carol buys x widgets at a cost of y cents per

widget. She packages them, q widgets per
box, and sells them at a price of z dollars per
box. What is the amount of profit, in dollars,
that she makes on the sale (profit = sales
revenue – cost)?

100qz – xy

xz xy
−
q 100
xy
qz −
100
100z
− xy
q
xz
− xy
q

2 18 Crash Course for the GMAT

 24. If 2w + y = 47, 3y + z = 112, and 2w + 3z =
21, what is the average (arithmetic mean) of
w, y, and z ?
15
25
50
100
It cannot be determined from the
information given.

25. Circle Q has radius r. Circle P has a radius that

is 50% greater than r. In terms of r, what is
the area of circle P ?

πr2
2
3π r 2
2
2πr2

9π r 2
4

3πr2

Math Drills 2 19