https://www.gregmat.com/quizzes/quiz/prepswift-quant-tickbox-quiz-6-algebra-column-3 (Question 19)
Am I overthinking this question? I did all the math correctly, and I got 11.1111…. as the final calculation. However, my understanding was that since Smargel has the fill up the entire tank, which takes 11.1111… minutes, 11 minutes means it wouldn’t be completely filled, thus I put 12 minutes.
Is the specific wording kind of irrelevant for questions like this? I thought it was trying to trick me and so I messed it up as a result
Yes, that understanding is correct. You need at least 11 \frac{1}{9} minutes to fill the tank. If they had asked you for the minimum number of full minutes required to guarantee the tank is filled, then you’d answer 12, but it’s a slightly different scenario here.
They’re asking you to round your 11.\overline{11} answer to the nearest integer. That instruction is completely independent of the context; 11.\overline{11} just rounds to 11. It doesn’t matter that the tank isn’t technically full by then, because you’ve graduated from the word problem itself.
For example, you could’ve been asked to divide your exact answer by 100, and that result would have nothing to do with the physical tank. In essence, you’re solving two independent questions: finding the exact fill time, and then performing a separate math operation on that result.
