Quant In CAT Is Not Pure Maths !!!
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"Oh my GOD! CAT did not test
me even on a single Mathematics question that I had prepared throughout the
year... Most of the questions were weird statements."
These are the words of Nitesh
Bhargav, a CAT aspirant, immediately after the CAT was over last year. This
statement can be an indicator of insufficient preparation or stress or lack of
confidence or... But an in-depth analysis will make it clear that the only
mistake Nitesh committed was that he confused his Mathematics preparation with
CAT Quantitative preparation. So what is the difference and why is it that CAT
pundits say that "CAT has no Mathematics, only Quantitative Techniques". Let us
try to understand the difference between Mathematics and Quantitative
techniques.
Mathematics is the science that
deals with numbers, quantities, shapes, patterns, measurements, concepts related
to them and their numerous relationships. It includes arithmetic, algebra,
geometry, trigonometry, etc., where as quantitative techniques section in CAT is
more of an application of the fundamental rules of mathematics in real life
situations. The following illustration can help us understand the real facet of
Quantitative techniques.
Suppose you watch a light
flashing every 2 seconds, and another light flashing every 3 seconds, how would
you calculate when the two lights would flash together? For someone devoid of
the basic weapons of mathematics, this would be a labyrinth. But is it really?
To unravel this enigma all we need to do is use simple logic. Let's see how -
the first light flashes after an interval of every 2 seconds, this implies that
it would flash at the intervals of 2, i.e., after 2 seconds, 4 seconds, 6
seconds, 8 seconds, and so on... Likewise, the second light will flash after 3
seconds, 6 seconds, 9 seconds, and so on... We, thus, observe that the two flash
together after every 6 seconds. Now this is a direct application of a very
simple concept the LCM, i.e., Least Common Multiple (LCM of 2 & 3 is 6), a
concept which all of us have studied in our junior school. Obviously, as a CAT
aspirant you won't be asked a direct question to calculate the LCM of 2 & 3. The
questions would be application based, and therefore. be asked in a disguised
manner. The real test is of one's analytical skills to fathom what is being
asked. There are similar illustrations of most basic concepts, which we have
studied till our Xth grade and these questions check our ability to apply the
concepts, which we have learnt to real life situations.
