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Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 12 Sep 2018
Status:Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Posts: 1608
Given Kudos: 5
The Phrase "Closest to" Is Meaningful in GRE Quant Questions
[#permalink]
20 Feb 2025, 11:17
20 Feb 2025, 11:17
Expert Reply
It’s important to be mindful of all information provided in GRE Quant questions, regardless of how insignificant that information may seem. Case in point: the phrase “closest to.” This is an important phrase because it implies that we can rely on estimation to come up with an answer. If we miss this information in a question, we may take the question much farther than it needs to go to come up with an answer.
For example, let’s say we need to know which of the following answer choices is closest to 28^18 – 7^9.
A. 28^18
B. 28^17
C. 28^16
D. 28^15
E. 28^14
First, don’t even think about trying this on the calculator! And don’t try re-expressing the bases of 28 and 7 to primes, which although correct mathematically, is unnecessary. Return to the question stem and notice the phrase “closest to,” which is a big hint that very little math, if any, is needed to solve this problem. To get the correct answer, we must recognize that because 28^18 is so much bigger than 7^9, the approximate answer is still 28^18. So, by recognizing the words “closest to,” we can solve this question in seconds rather than minutes.
Let’s try another example.
“Closest to”: Example 1
(20,103 x 1,025) / (19 x 57) is closest to which of the following?
A. 200
B. 2,000
C. 20,000
D. 200,000
E. 2,000,000
Solution:
Our initial reaction to this question may be to use the onscreen calculator to find the exact value of the given expression and determine the answer choice that is closest to the result. While that approach is not wrong, it is a waste of time. Instead, we should notice that the answer choices are spaced far enough for us to easily determine the correct answer using estimation.
If we approximate 20,103 as 20,000, 1,025 as 1,000, 19 as 20, and 57 as 50, the expression becomes the following:
(20,103 x 1,025) / (19 x 57) = (20,000 x 1,000) / (20 x 50) = 20,000
Thus, we can conclude with confidence that the given expression is closest to 20,000. We can compare this answer to the value we would obtain if we used the calculator. Carrying out the given operations, we would obtain 19,026.39, which is pretty close to the approximate value we found. By using estimation, however, we were able to save valuable time.
Warmest regards,
Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep
It’s important to be mindful of all information provided in GRE Quant questions, regardless of how insignificant that information may seem. Case in point: the phrase “closest to.” This is an important phrase because it implies that we can rely on estimation to come up with an answer. If we miss this information in a question, we may take the question much farther than it needs to go to come up with an answer.
For example, let’s say we need to know which of the following answer choices is closest to 28^18 – 7^9.
A. 28^18
B. 28^17
C. 28^16
D. 28^15
E. 28^14
First, don’t even think about trying this on the calculator! And don’t try re-expressing the bases of 28 and 7 to primes, which although correct mathematically, is unnecessary. Return to the question stem and notice the phrase “closest to,” which is a big hint that very little math, if any, is needed to solve this problem. To get the correct answer, we must recognize that because 28^18 is so much bigger than 7^9, the approximate answer is still 28^18. So, by recognizing the words “closest to,” we can solve this question in seconds rather than minutes.
Let’s try another example.
“Closest to”: Example 1
(20,103 x 1,025) / (19 x 57) is closest to which of the following?
A. 200
B. 2,000
C. 20,000
D. 200,000
E. 2,000,000
Solution:
Our initial reaction to this question may be to use the onscreen calculator to find the exact value of the given expression and determine the answer choice that is closest to the result. While that approach is not wrong, it is a waste of time. Instead, we should notice that the answer choices are spaced far enough for us to easily determine the correct answer using estimation.
If we approximate 20,103 as 20,000, 1,025 as 1,000, 19 as 20, and 57 as 50, the expression becomes the following:
(20,103 x 1,025) / (19 x 57) = (20,000 x 1,000) / (20 x 50) = 20,000
Thus, we can conclude with confidence that the given expression is closest to 20,000. We can compare this answer to the value we would obtain if we used the calculator. Carrying out the given operations, we would obtain 19,026.39, which is pretty close to the approximate value we found. By using estimation, however, we were able to save valuable time.
Warmest regards,
Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep
gmatclubot
The Phrase "Closest to" Is Meaningful in GRE Quant Questions [#permalink]
20 Feb 2025, 11:17
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