GMAT Percentage Problems
Hey guys, GMAT Percentage problem/s are commonplace on the GMAT and today we’re going to take a look at one that is straightforward but could very easily get you caught up with the math. In this problem, notice that there’s the word “approximately.” That always means there’s an Estimation Solution Path. We’ll take a look at that first but then we’re going to look at a Scenario Solution Path, which for many people is a lot more natural. In addition to seeing that word approximately you can see that there’s this massive spread within the answer choices. Once again pushing us towards an Estimation Solution Path.
Estimation Solution Path
So let’s dive in: The unemployment rate is dropping from 16% to 9% and your quick synthesis there should be: okay it’s being cut about in half or a little less than half. And monitoring that directionality is important. Additionally, the number of workers is increasing. So we have lower unemployment but a greater number of workers. So we have two things, two forces working against one another. If the number of workers were remaining equal then our answer would be about a 50% decrease or just under a 50% decrease, so like 45% or something like that. But because we’re increasing the number of workers, our decrease in unemployment is lower. That is we have more workers, so we have a larger number of unemployed so we’re not losing as many actual unemployed people and therefore our answer is B: 30% decrease.
Scenario Solution Path
If we want to take a look at this via Scenario, we can always throw up an easy number like 100. We begin with 100 workers and 16% are unemployed so 16 are unemployed. Our workers go from 100 to 120. 9% of 120 is 9 plus 0.9 plus 0.9 = 10.8% or 11%. What’s the percentage decrease from 16 to 11? Well it’s not 50, that’s too big. It’s not 15, that’s too small. It’s about 30 and the math will bear us out there.
So thanks for watching guys! Check out the links below for other GMAT percentage problem/s and we look forward to seeing you again real real soon.
Another GMAT percentage problem