Blue Book Questions

JefferyJung
Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:45:41 +0000

This one I know I could have gotten, but I kept drawing a blank as to how to figure it out.

The price of ground coffee beans is d dollars for 8 ounces and each ounce makes c cups of brewed coffee. In terms of c and d, what is the dollar cost of the ground coffee beans required to make 1 cup of brewed coffee.

Answer: d/8c



For these problems, it’s best if you choose numbers to plug in if you’re not 100% confident in your algebraic reasoning skills.

Let d = 1 and c = 1: This should let you cancel at least 2-3 of the choices. Then, choose another set of numbers.

Let d = 2 and c = 2: This should bring you to one final answer.

Or, if you know about dimensional analysis, it might help.
The question asks, “In terms of c and d, what is the dollar cost of the ground coffee beans required to make 1 cup of brewed coffee?”

You know your answer has to end up in dollar/cup

Given:
d dollars = 8 ounces
1 ounce = c cups

d dollars | 1 ounce |
-------------------- = d/8c
8 ounces | c cups |