[Pri20150302MCP] Multiple Choice Questions with Penalty

Question

Solution

The ratio of the number of words spelt correctly to that of words spelt wrongly is 3 : 1.  I use triangle to surround the ratio units.  Multiplying by 10 and 4 respectively, we obtain 30 and 4 units respectively.  The score accrued is 30 – 4 = 26 units which corresponds to 130.  Dividing by 26, we get 1 triangle unit corresponding to 5.  And that is the answer required because it 1 triangle unit represents the number of words spelt wrongly.

Ans: 5

Check: 15´10 – 4´5 = 150 – 20 = 130.   Yes!  Woo hoo!!

Reflection

This question is similar to this fish and chicken cost problem, but there are no monetary units (e.g. dollars or cents) involved.  Also, because of the penalty for wrongly spelt words, we subtract instead of add.  We need to be mindful of the context of the question and to apply the appropriate arithmetic operation.