## Articles published in August 2012

### The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – August 27th, 2012

Each week, we post a new 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.

At Medville Hospital, Drug X is prescribed only for Condition A and Condition B, which may occur simultaneously in the same patient. Last year, the department recorded the following statistics for prescriptions of Drug X.

Condition Number of Cases
(i.e. Number of patients with the condition)
% of cases in which Drug X was prescribed
A 4,000 25
B 2,000 80

Which of the following could be the number of Medville Hospital patients for whom Drug X was prescribed last year?

### The Manhattan Prep GRE Reading Comprehension Study Guide

Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Did you know that you can find everything you ever wanted to know about Reading Comprehension here on our blog? Well, okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating just a little but not that much! Follow the links! Read more

### The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – August 20th, 2012

Each week, we post a new 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.

The volume of a chemical solution in a tank is described by the formula , where k is a constant, T is the temperature, c is the concentration of the chemical solution, and p is the atmospheric pressure.  The solution in the tank can be either hot or cold.  When hot, c is half of what it is when cold, p is double what it is when cold, and T is triple what it is when cold.

If the tank can be no more than  full when hot for safety reasons, what is the maximum fraction of capacity to which the tank can be filled when the solution is cold?

### How To Make The Best Memories: Tips To Optimize Your Memory Abilities

How much did you study for the GRE this past week-end? For how many hours? Over how many sittings? What did you study and how did you study it?

Most importantly: how many breaks did you take and how long were they?

Time Magazine just published a fascinating little article: To Boost Memory, Shut Your Eyes and Relax. Go take a look at it. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. : )

Has this happened to you? You have ambitious plans to study a ton of things this week-end. You get tired, but you’re determined to push through, so you keep studying. You begin to get a bit anxious because you feel you aren’t learning well (and you’re not!), so you study even more. You get even more tired, and that makes it even harder to learn. By the end of the week-end, you’re exhausted, frustrated, and demoralized.

You may have already heard me say this (many times on various forums or in blog posts!), but I’m saying it again because it’s so important: your brain makes better memories when it’s not tired.

The Time article quotes Michaela Dewar, the lead author of a new research study on this topic. She notes that we are at a very early stage of memory formation when we first start to study new information, and further neural processes have to occur after this stage for us to be able to remember this information at a later point in time.

The italics are mine. Note what Ms. Dewar has said: more stuff has to happen in our brains after we have studied this info in order for us to be able to recall that information later on.

### Friday Links: Grad School Application Tips, Preparing for the Fall Semester, and More

Take a break from your prep work and check out some of this week’s top grad school-related stories:

5 Ways to Prepare for Graduate School, Reduce Stress (The Collegian)

### #GRE Math: US Population Reaches 100 Million Pi

According to the Huffington Post:

The U.S. population has reached a nerdy and delightful milestone.

Shortly after 2:29 p.m. on Tuesday, August 14, 2012, the U.S. population was exactly 314,159,265, or pi (Ï€) times 100 million, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

If the US population is equivalent to 100 million π (rounded to the nearest person), the average member of the population is 5.5 feet tall, and every member of the US population is arranged, head-to-foot, to form a circle, which is closest to the radius of this circle, in feet?

A. 2,750,000
B. 2,750,000π
C. 275,000,000
D. 275,000,000π
E. 550,000,000

### Is Mariah Carey’s GRE Vocabulary Better Than Yours?

This incredible post on Gawker catalogues the rather prodigious vocabulary displayed in Mariah Carey’s oeuvre.

The post does seem to be making fun of Carey a bit:

Her lyrics are littered with, as she might say, peculiar words that suggest she is a vocabulary booster enthusiast. She loves her some adverbs. The result is a body of words that are rarely, if ever, heard in pop music.

(What’s a “booster enthusiast”? Considering that one definition of booster — and the only definition that really applies to a person — is “enthusiast,” I think “booster enthusiast” is a bit redundant.)

In any case, I read over the entire list of lyrics, lyrics like:

“I can’t be elusive with you honey / ‘Cause it’s blatant that I’m feeling you”

“Do you care for me beyond idolization?”

“I had a crush on you / Painstakingly I would conceal the truth”

“Thoughts run wild as I sit and rhapsodize”

“After so much suffering I finally found unvarnished truth”

“My defenses start to wane”

… and Mariah Carey is basically using those words correctly.

We think she’d do pretty well on the GRE! At least the verbal part.

Check out the entire list here.

### The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – August 13th, 2012

Each week, we post a new 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.

The constant rate at which machines A works is  of the constant rate at which machine B works. Under normal conditions, machine A would complete x lots in 2 days. However, when a technician attempts to use machines A and B simultaneously, there is not enough electrical power to run both machines at full power. As a result, running the machines simultaneously reduces the work rate of each machine by 20%.

How long will it take the machines to complete 3x lots, working simultaneously?

Need some good Friday reads? Take a moment to catch up on some of this week’s top graduate school and GRE-related stories.

This fall, name-brand schools are launching cross-disciplinary masters programs meant to make students more competitive in a changing economy.

Four Ways to Make Good Money While Earning Your Degree (USA TODAY College)

### The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – August 6th, 2012

Each week, we post a new 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.

Insurance Plan A requires the patient to pay up to the first $1,600 of any hospital bill plus 12% of the remainder of the bill. Insurance Plan B requires the patient to pay the entire amount of any hospital bill under$2,000; for hospital bills of at least $2,000, the patient pays$2,000 plus another 8% of the entire amount.

The patient would pay the same under either insurance plan for hospital bills of which of the following amounts?