Solve: 17292/33 $\div$ 8 = $x$
Aptitude
Decimal Fraction
Difficulty: Medium
Choose an option
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A23.5
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B53.5
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C65.5
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D33.5
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E45.5
Answer
Correct Answer: 65.5
Explanation
Concept & Strategy
When dealing with sequential division, convert the division operations into multiplication by their reciprocals. This prevents order-of-operations errors and allows for easier cross-cancellation.
$$a \div b \div c = a \times \frac{1}{b} \times \frac{1}{c}$$
Step-by-Step Solution
* Rewrite the given expression using multiplication:
$$17292 \times \frac{1}{33} \times \frac{1}{8}$$
* Divide $17292$ by $33$:
$$17292 \div 33 = 524$$
* Now, divide the intermediate result by 8:
$$524 \div 8$$
$$524 \div 8 = 65.5$$
Exam Strategy & Shortcut
Instead of dividing sequentially, you can multiply the divisors together first. $33 \times 8 = 264$. Then compute $17292 \div 264$. To estimate quickly, $264 \times 100 = 26400$. Half of that (which represents $\times 50$) is 13200. The target $17292$ is considerably higher than 13200 but much less than 26400, securely putting the answer in the 60s. Option (c) is the only logical choice based on this quick magnitude estimation.
Common Pitfall
A dangerous mistake is calculating sequential division backwards (e.g., evaluating $33 \div 8$ first). Division is strictly not associative. You must process it strictly left-to-right, or convert to multiplication to avoid breaking algebraic rules.
Final Answer
Therefore, the correct answer is **65.5**.