Lesson: Volume and Surface Area

Thanks bimla!

Question link: https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/a-rectangular-box-with-dimensions-of-12...

That approach would be correct if we were POURING the (liquid) soup into the box. That would allow the soup to fill all of the corners of the box.

The problem is that the soup cans are RIGID and cannot fill all of the corners of the box.

For example, let's say each soup can has a radius of 5 cm and a height of 10 cm.
Now let's say our box is 1 cm wide, 1 cm long and 1,000,0000 cm high.
Even though the volume of the box is thousands of times greater than the volume of one can of soup, we cannot fit any cans into the box.

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

Thanks Kevin. I'm glad you like it!

That's correct. The formulas for the volumes of cones and spheres aren't in the GRE syllabus.

IF the GRE were to ever ask a question about a sphere or cone, they would also provide the required formula.

Don't worry about your timing at first. It's much more important to fully understand the content and how to solve questions before you start worrying about timing. That said, I have two comments:
(1) Your slower timing could be the result of not choosing the most efficient approach. So be sure to always review other solutions, even if you get the question right.
(2) After answering enough practice questions, you will find that your timing improves.