Study the given table and answer the question that follows. The total money spent in advertisement (in ₹) and total number of advertisements in different newspapers given by a company for five years (2018 to 2022) is given in the below table. Year → Total Money Spent in ₹ in Advertisement (NY Times | The Telegraph | Others) | Total No of Advertisements (NY Times | The Telegraph | Others) 2018 — 3,50,000 | 3,60,000 | 2,10,000 | 10 | 12 | 15 2019 — 4,80,000 | 3,45,000 | 2,89,000 | 12 | 15 | 17 2020 — 6,15,000 | 4,00,000 | 5,76,000 | 15 | 20 | 36 2021 — 7,60,000 | 4,80,000 | 4,40,000 | 19 | 24 | 22 2022 — 14,00,000 | 3,50,000 | 3,09,000 | 38 | 18 | 30 What is the ratio of the money spent on each of the advertisements taken one from each of NY times, The Telegraph and Others for the year 2021 to that of the money spent on each of the advertisements taken one from each of NY times, The Telegraph and Others for the year 2018?
- (a)80 : 71
- (b)71 : 80
- (c)80 : 79
- (d)79 : 80
Answer
Why
Correct — C. The stem is an image: a table giving, for 2018 to 2022, the money spent on advertisement in NY Times, The Telegraph and Others, and beside it the number of advertisements placed in each.
It asks for the ratio of the cost of one advertisement in each of the three papers in 2021 to that same total for 2018. Cost of one advertisement = money ÷ number.
2021 NY Times: 7,60,000 ÷ 19 = 40,000
2021 The Telegraph: 4,80,000 ÷ 24 = 20,000
2021 Others: 4,40,000 ÷ 22 = 20,000
One from each = 80,000
2018 NY Times: 3,50,000 ÷ 10 = 35,000
2018 The Telegraph: 3,60,000 ÷ 12 = 30,000
2018 Others: 2,10,000 ÷ 15 = 14,000
One from each = 79,000
80,000 : 79,000 = 80 : 79, which is option (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)80 : 71 — Option (a) 80 : 71 keeps 2021's 80,000 but puts 71,000 against 2018. The 2018 unit costs are 35,000, 30,000 and 14,000, and they add to 79,000.
- (b)71 : 80 — Option (b) 71 : 80 carries that same wrong 71,000 and reverses the order as well, putting 2018 first when the question names 2021 first.
- (d)79 : 80 — Option (d) 79 : 80 has both totals right and the order wrong. The stem asks for 2021 compared to 2018, so 80,000 is the antecedent.
Concept
"Money spent on each of the advertisements" is a unit rate: the money column divided by the count column, newspaper by newspaper.
"Taken one from each" then means adding those three unit rates — not averaging them, and not adding the raw money.
Pooling the money first and dividing by the total advertisements answers a different question: about 25,846 for 2021 and 24,865 for 2018, a ratio nowhere near 80 : 79.
The wording is heavy, but each of the six divisions comes out to a round number of rupees. That is a good sign the money column and the count column have been paired correctly.
Key facts
- Cost of one advertisement = total money spent ÷ number of advertisements for that newspaper.
- In 2021 one advertisement cost 40,000 in NY Times, 20,000 in The Telegraph and 20,000 in Others.
- In 2018 one advertisement cost 35,000 in NY Times, 30,000 in The Telegraph and 14,000 in Others.
- A ratio is written in the order the question names its two quantities.
Study next
Common traps
- Adding the three money figures and the three counts first, which answers a different question.
- Comparing total spend (16,80,000 in 2021 against 9,20,000 in 2018) and ignoring the per-advertisement wording.
- Writing 79 : 80 by taking the 2018 side first.
The shape to recognise is one block of totals beside a second block that splits them. 18 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.9 gives total employees beside the percentage of males and females, and 12 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.9 pairs a pie chart of 1,600 employees with a table of male-to-female ratios.
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