Carcass wrote:
Two tanks, X and Y, are filled to capacity with jet fuel. Tank X holds 600 gallons more than tank Y. If 100 gallons of fuel were to be pumped from each tank, tank X would then contain 3 times as much fuel as tank Y. What is the total number of gallons of fuel in the two full tanks?
(A) 1,400
(B) 1,200
(C) 1,000
(D) 900
(E) 800
Let X = the ORIGINAL volume of fuel in Tank X
Let Y = the ORIGINAL volume of fuel in Tank Y
Tank X holds 600 gallons more than tank Y We can write:
X = Y + 600If 100 gallons of fuel were to be pumped from each tank, tank X would then contain 3 times as much fuel as tank Y So, X - 100 = NEW volume of fuel in Tank X
And Y - 100 = NEW volume of fuel in Tank Y
We can write: X - 100 = 3(Y - 100)
Expand to get: X - 100 = 3Y - 300
Rewrite as:
3Y - X = 200What is the total number of gallons of fuel in the two full tanks? In other words, what is the value of X + Y?
We have the following:
X = Y + 6003Y - X = 200Take the bottom equation and replace X with Y + 600 to get:
3Y - (Y + 600) = 200 Simplify: 2Y - 600 = 200
So, 2Y = 800
Solve: Y = 400
Since,
X = Y + 600, we can replace Y with 400 to get:
X = 400 + 600So, X = 1000
This means X + Y = 1000 + 400 = 1400
Answer: A
Cheers,
Brent
_________________
Brent Hanneson – Creator of greenlighttestprep.com
Sign up for GRE Question of the Day emails