Tricky Stuff

Bunka · 2 Dec 2008 at 19:55

Hey guys,

Bit of a hand would be useful here! Just doing some practice questions for a numerical reasoning aptitude test I have coming up and I'm struggling a little with this question. I have a feeling it should be stupidly easy, and I've got an answer, but I'm not exaaaactly sure how I got there. I like to visualise exactly how things work in my head, so if somebody could do me a massive favour, work out the answer to this question, and let me know how they did it, it'd be much appreciated!

Reginald · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:02

Le_Petit_Lapin · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:04

1674.17777 recurring.

Unless I still suck at maths. ...

Err.

Oh wait I do. I dont know what I've done. Its not the right answer anyway.

This is why I'm not a pilot.

JIM_BOB7813 · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:05

I get 37.5 -> 38

Crown copyright, is this a government job?

edit: I worked with pop= 20,000,000 so should round down to 37?

Hard question tbh, without using a calc

iamdjdz · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:06

I get 35.7 - so obviously wrong...

Reginald · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:07

JIM_BOB7813 said:
I get 37.5 -> 38

Crown copyright, is this a government job?

Yes tis. Thanks for your help.. how did you do this?? Cos your answer could be a or b?

lord filbuster · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:09

i get 37.325. (3M/20.09M)*100, which is the percentage of people with broadband. Then take that percentage of 250 = 37.33200597 people. Not sure if you always round up when it involves people though. could be 37 or 38. EDIT: if you estimate it as 3/20*100, which =15% of the population, you get 37.5 people. Pretty poor question, two of the answers are viable, it just depends how much of an estimate you make.

RastaManBob · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:10

I get 37.332005973120955699352911896466 (As far as Windows Calc goes

)... Take it that's a mistake...

Rich_L · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:10

There's about 3,000,000 (3,000, in thousands) subscribers in 2005. So divide that by the population (20,090,000) and then multiply by 250 and you get 37.33.

So round down to 37 and that's your answer I'd say.

iamdjdz · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:11

Reginald said:
Yes tis. Thanks for your help.. how did you do this?? Cos your answer could be a or b?

I got it in the end - 20.09M = 20m
3 million / 20 million * 100 = 15%

15% = 0.15
0.15 * 250 = 37.5 = 38

Actually don't think this is right - lord filbuster i think has the correct way.

EDIT again - I'm thoroughly confused, but think this is indeed right.

Coran · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:12

Daft question. I'd go A, B & C. I have no idea from that graph whether there were 3M or 3.1M people using broadband in Australia in 2005.

Eitherway, the way to work it out is to take a reading for Australia 2005. Say it's 3M. Then divide this by the total population of 20.08M, then multiply by 250 = 37.4 and therefore A.

If you believe it's 3.1M then the answer is closer to 39 (C) though.

Bunka · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:13

Rich_L said:
There's about 3,000,000 (3,000, in thousands) subscribers in 2005. So divide that by the population (20,090,000) and then multiply by 250 and you get 37.33.

So round down to 37 and that's your answer I'd say.

That's exactly how I did it. Doesn't help with everyone giving different answers though.

*edit* Seems lord filbuster got there in a slightly different way.

lord filbuster · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:14

Even worse is that a, b and c could all be construed as correct.

Rich_L · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:14

Yeah, get a ruler out and see exactly how far up the bar is.

Totally gay question though

Or yeah, if it's multiple choice, it's A B and C

RastaManBob · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:15

Bunka said:
That's exactly how I did it. Doesn't help with everyone giving different answers though.

*edit* Seems lord filbuster got there in a slightly different way.

I got that too... See above. Not sure whether you'd be best rounding up or down though... Of course mathematically you'd round down but in this case... Dunno. Maybe that's the real question

iamdjdz · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:15

Bunka said:
That's exactly how I did it. Doesn't help with everyone giving different answers though.

*edit* Seems lord filbuster got there in a slightly different way.

It says approximately - so you should use 20 million instead of 20.09 million, and 3 million subscribers...

Rich_L · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:16

It also says approximately, so 37, 38 and 39 are only a 0.4% error margin

*edit*

Ok, write on the sheet "THIS QUESTION IS GAY, LOLZ OCUK"

Top marks, guaranteed!

JIM_BOB7813 · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:17

I presume you can't use a calculator, so, you need to calculate the percentage of people with BB, then you can just use that to calc the number of people in a sample of 250.

3 million with BB
20 million population
3/20 -> times both by 5 gives 15/100, 15%

work out 15% of 250 = 37.5 people

But because we rounded the population down, we should round that number down also to compensate, so I'd say the answer is 37 people

Coran · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:18

iamdjdz said:
It says approximately - so you should use 20 million instead of 20.09 million, and 3 million subscribers...

Valid point. I'm assuming you don't have a calculator so all you can do is 3/20 = 0.15, then multiply by 250 = 15*2.5 = 37.5. Round it up and you get 38.

iamdjdz · 2 Dec 2008 at 20:19

Coran said:
Valid point. I'm assuming you don't have a calculator so all you can do is 3/20 = 0.15, then multiply by 250 = 15*2.5 = 37.5. Round it up and you get 38.

Exactly - this is most probably the correct answer.