To see this week’s answer choices and to submit your pick, visit our Challenge Problem page.

To see this week’s answer choices and to submit your pick, visit our Challenge Problem page.

Here are the free GRE events we’re holding this week (All times local unless otherwise specified):

11/11/13– Online- Mondays with Jen– 7:00PM – 8:30PM (EDT)

11/17/13– Online- Free Trial Class- 2:00PM – 5:00PM

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listing Page.

To see this week’s answer choices and to submit your pick, visit our Challenge Problem page.

We hope everyone had a happy Halloween! Yesterday we asked our friends on our Manhattan GRE Facebook page to attempt this Trick-or-Treat Halloween Challenge Problem. As promised, today we are sharing the answer and explanation to the problem:

Let’s use x for the number of bags produced by the original recipe, and y for the weight of each of the bags. Given those variables, our first equation is simply xy = 600. We also need to create an equation that represents the new recipe. Since the number of bags produced has increased by 30, and the weight of each bag has decreased by 1, the new equation is (x + 30)(y – 1) = 600. Remember, the total weight is still 600 ounces. Foiling this equation yields xy – x + 30y – 30 = 600.

We now have two equations with two variables. There are several different paths we can go down here, but all involve substitution of one of the variables, and all will yield a quadratic. The simplest path is to recognize that since xy = 600, we can substitute for xy in the second equation to get 600 – x + 30y – 30 = 600. Subtracting the 600 from both sides, and adding an x to each side gives us 30y – 30 = x. We can now substitute for x in the first equation.

 
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Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

Submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Music can do a lot for us, but the word is still out on whether it can enhance our ability to stay focused and sharpen our memories during long study sessions. On the one hand, we have a report from the University of Toronto suggesting that fast and loud background music can hinder our performance on reading comprehension. On the other, there’s the recent
 research from the digital music service, Spotify, and Clinical Psychologist Dr. Emma Gray, which proclaims that pop hits from artists like Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, and Miley Cyrus can actually enhance our cognitive abilities.

“Music has a positive effect on the mind, and listening to the right type of music can actually improve studying and learning,” says Dr. Gray. She even suggests that students who listen to music while studying can perform better than those who do not.

We also cannot leave out the so-called “Mozart Effect,” which alleges that listening to classical music provides short-term enhancement of mental tasks, like memorization. We’ve heard students swear by this tactic, while others say that silence is golden.
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Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

Submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Here are the free GRE events we’re holding this week (All times local unless otherwise specified):

10/22/13– Los Angeles, CA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM – 9:30PM

10/22/13– New York, NY- Free Trial Class- 6:30PM – 9:30PM

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listing Page.

Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.