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The Length, Width, and Height of a Rectangular Box, in Centimeters are L, W, and H GMAT Data Sufficiency

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Sayantani Barman

Experta en el extranjero | Updated On - Dec 30, 2022

Question: The length, width, and height of a rectangular box, in centimeters, are L, W, and H. If the volume of this box is V cubic centimeters and the total area of the 6 sides of this box is A square centimeters, what is the value of \(\frac{V}{A}\)?

  1. Atleast 2 of L, W, and H are equal to 5
  2. L, W, and H all have the same value
  1. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
  2. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
  3. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
  4. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
  5. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

Correct Answer: C

Approach Solution (1):

We are told that the length, width, and height of a rectangular box, in centimeters, are L, W, and H respectively, the volume of this box is V cubic centimeters and the total surface area of the 6 sides of the box is A square centimeters. We are asked for the value of \(\frac{V}{A}\). This question is based around some standard Geometry formulas for the solids and can be solved by Testing Values.

To start, volume of a rectangular solid is V = (L) (W) (H) and the total surface area is SA = 2 (L) (W) + 2 (L) (H) + 2 (w) (H)

(1) Atleast 2 of L, W and H are equal to 5.

Fact 1 tells us that 2 (or perhaps all 3) of the dimensions are equal to 5, but still leads to a number of different answers to the questions.
If…

L = 5, W = 5, H = 5, then the volume = (5) (5) (5) = 125 and total surface area = (2) (5) (5) + (2) (5) (5) + (2) (5) (5) = 150

So the answer to the question is \(\frac{125}{150}=\frac{5}{6}\)

L = 5, W = 5, H = 1, then the volume = (5) (5) (1) = 25 and total surface area = (2) (5) (5) + (2) (5) (1) + (2) (5) (1) = 70

So the answer to the question is \(\frac{25}{70}=\frac{5}{14}\)

Fact 1 is Insufficient

(2) L, W, and H all have the same value.

Fact 2 tells us that we are actually dealing with a cube, but the answer to the question will still vary depending on the side length

If…

L = 5, W = 5, H = 5, then the volume = (5) (5) (5) = 125 and total surface area = (2) (5) (5) + (2) (5) (5) + (2) (5) (5) = 150

So the answer to the question is \(\frac{125}{150}=\frac{5}{6}\)

L = 1, W = 1, H = 1, then the volume = (1) (1) (1) = 1 and total surface area = (2) (1) (1) + (2) (1) (1) + (2) (1) (1) = 6

So the answer to the question is \(\frac{1}{6}\)

Fact 2 is Insufficient

Combined, we know:

Atleast 2 of L, W, and H are equal to 5.

L, W, and H all have the same value.

When combining the two facts, it’s clear that we are dealing with a cube with a side length of 5, so the answer to the question is \(\frac{5}{6}\)

Combined, Sufficient

“The length, width, and height of a rectangular box, in centimeters, are L, W, and H. If the volume of this box is V cubic centimeters and the total area of the 6 sides of this box is A square centimeters, what is the value of \(\frac{V}{A}\)?”- is a topic of the GMAT Quantitative reasoning section of GMAT. This question has been taken from the book "GMAT Quantitative Review". GMAT Quant section consists of a total of 31 questions. GMAT Data Sufficiency questions consist of a problem statement followed by two factual statements.

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*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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