When the bus started from the first bus stop, the number of male passengers to the number of female ...

When the bus started from the first bus stop, the number of male passengers to the number of female passengers was 1 : 3. At the first stop, 16 passengers got down and 6 more female passengers got in. The ratio of the male to female passengers now became 1: 2. What was the total number of passengers in the bus when it started from the first stop?

Quiz

Answer/Solution

Cannot be determined

Steps/Work

Let, initially the number of males and females in the bus be ’x’ and ’3x’ respectively.
At the first stop, suppose ’m’ males and ’f’ females left the bus.
Therefore at the first stop the number of males is ’x - m’ and the number of females is ’(3x - f) + 6’
Therefore (x - m)/[(3x - f) + 6] = 1/2
=> 2x - 2m = 3x - f + 6
Also m + f = 16
x = 26 - f
As we have 3 variable and 2 equations, a definite value cannot be determined.
ANSWER:E