'Buy two get one free' Question

Question:

Mr Lee bought some files at $4 each and sold them at $10 each. The customers who bought 2 files from him were given 1 file for free. Yesterday, all his customers bought either one or two files. At the end of the day, he had given away 120 files and had earned $1230. Find the number of customers who bought only one file. 

Solution:

Ratio + Before After (ALWAYS)

Here is another question from Kiasuparents on Ratio AGAIN! It seems ratio is really a headache for many students. 

A, B and C shared 360 cards. If A gives 10% of her cards to B and in turn B gives 2/7 of his cards to C, the ratio of A's cards to B's cards to C's cards will be 1:3:4. How many cards did B have at first ?

Solution:

Ratio in the end -> A : B : C = 1 : 3 : 4
Total 8u -> 360
1u -> 45
in the end, A -> 45, B -> 135, C -> 180
B gave 2/7 to C, so left 5units
5u -> 135
1u -> 27
After A gave 10% to B, B has 7u -> 7x27 = 189

For A, left 90%, 90% -> 45, 10% -> 5 (A gave 5 cards to B)

No. of cards B had at first: 189 - 5 = 184

Note:

At first, A had 50, B had 184, C had 126

Another Ratio Question (total unchanged)

Here is another ratio question from Kiasuparents

The cost of a birthday present was shared between Benjamin and Christopher. At first, Benjamin paid 2/3 of what Christopher paid. when Benjamin paid $50 more, he ended up paying 4/5 of what Christopher paid. how much was the cost of the present?

Soultion:

Hi use total unchanged (cost of the present is constant)
First B:C = 2:3 (total 5u)
After B:C = 4:5 (total 9u)

Change total units to 45u
First B:C = 2:3 (x9) --> 18:27
After B:C = 4:5 (x5) --> 20:25

2u --> 50
1u --> 25
Cost of present 45u --> $1125 

'Set' Question

Question: 



Solution:

It can be solved using 'set'

1 set --> 8 bags of sweets and 1 bag of chocolate
Money collected for 1 set --> 8 x 5.5 + 2 = 46
No. of sets = 3128 / 46 = 68

No. of sweets sold --> 68 x 8 x 4 = 2176
No. of chocolates sold --> 68 x 8 = 544

Another Model Question

Question: 

Alex, Ben and Caleb had some stamps. Alex had 90 stamps more than Ben, and Ben had 10 stamps more than Caleb. After Alex had given Ben 95 of his stamps and Caleb bought some stamps, Alex and Caleb had the same number of stamps while Ben had thrice as much as either of them.

a) How many stamps did Caleb have at first?
b) How many stamps did they have altogether at first?

Solution:

Working Backwards

A fraction question sent in by Mr Chiow

Solution:

In the end: Z = L à 174 

After L gave 2/5, she had 3 units left.

So 3u à 174

1u à 58

Z received 2u from L, so Z originally had 174 – 2u à 174 – 116 = 58

Before L gave 2/5, she had 5 units. 5u à 290

Z had 58 after he gave 1/3, 2u à 58, 1u à 29 (given to L)

L had 290 after she received 29

L at first à 290 – 29 = 261 

Another common question on Ratio and Age

Question:

The ratio of the age of Mdm Huda to her son's age is 5:1 now. In 7 years time, she would be thrice as old as her son. What is the total age of Mdm Huda and her son now?

Solution:

Before ratio --> H : S = 5 : 1 (difference 4u)
After ratio --> H : S = 3 : 1 (difference 2u)
Age difference between Mdm Huda and her son is unchanged after 7 years

So make the difference same
After ratio (x2) --> H : S = 6 : 2 (difference 4u now, same as before)
1u (6u-5u) --> 7 years
Age of Mdm Huda now is 5u --> 5x7=35
Age of her son now is 1u --> 7