An employee is paid 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for each hour worked in
excess of 40 hours per week, excluding Sunday, and 2 times the regular hourly rate
for each hour worked on Sunday. How much was the employee paid last week?
(1) The employee's regular hourly rate is $10.
(2) Last week the employee worked a total of 54 hours but did not work
more than 8 hours on any day.
I thought it would be B but it's E. Why?
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Hi py0520,
The prompt tells us how an employee's pay is 'modified' depending on the number of hours that are worked each week AND the specific days that are worked. We're asked how much a particular employee was PAID last week. To answer this question, we need to know the employee's base pay rate AND the number of hours worked AND whether any hours were worked on Sunday or not.
1) The employee's regular hourly rate is $10.
This Fact tells us NOTHING about the total hours worked or the days that were worked.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT.
(2) Last week the employee worked a total of 54 hours but did not work
more than 8 hours on any day.
This Fact tells us NOTHING about the employee's base pay nor the days that were worked.
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT.
Combined, we know the employee's base pay ($10/hour) and that 54 hours were worked (with no more than 8 hours per day), but the answer to the question changes depending on how those 54 hours are scheduled.
With 54 hours, we could have six 8-hour days and one 6 hour day (or that time could be apportioned differently). In this one example, if the 6-hour day is on a Sunday, then we'll have a different total than if it were on a Monday. As such, the answer to the question changes.
Combined, INSUFFICIENT.
Final Answer: E
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
The prompt tells us how an employee's pay is 'modified' depending on the number of hours that are worked each week AND the specific days that are worked. We're asked how much a particular employee was PAID last week. To answer this question, we need to know the employee's base pay rate AND the number of hours worked AND whether any hours were worked on Sunday or not.
1) The employee's regular hourly rate is $10.
This Fact tells us NOTHING about the total hours worked or the days that were worked.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT.
(2) Last week the employee worked a total of 54 hours but did not work
more than 8 hours on any day.
This Fact tells us NOTHING about the employee's base pay nor the days that were worked.
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT.
Combined, we know the employee's base pay ($10/hour) and that 54 hours were worked (with no more than 8 hours per day), but the answer to the question changes depending on how those 54 hours are scheduled.
With 54 hours, we could have six 8-hour days and one 6 hour day (or that time could be apportioned differently). In this one example, if the 6-hour day is on a Sunday, then we'll have a different total than if it were on a Monday. As such, the answer to the question changes.
Combined, INSUFFICIENT.
Final Answer: E
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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There's no way to tell how many hours the employee would've worked on Sunday when his hourly rate would have been greater. If it had said that he worked a total of 56 hours, but did not work more than 8 hours on any given day - then we would have enough information. That would mean he worked 8 hours each day.py0520 wrote:An employee is paid 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for each hour worked in
excess of 40 hours per week, excluding Sunday, and 2 times the regular hourly rate
for each hour worked on Sunday. How much was the employee paid last week?
(1) The employee's regular hourly rate is $10.
(2) Last week the employee worked a total of 54 hours but did not work
more than 8 hours on any day.
I thought it would be B but it's E. Why?
With the information we are given, he may have worked 6, 7 or 8 hours on Sunday (or any fractional part in between those figures).
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To know how much the employee was paid, we'd need to know his/her hourly rate! (Is it $5 or $500? Definitely makes a big difference 
)
S2 doesn't tell us any actual amount of money, so B can't be the answer.
)S2 doesn't tell us any actual amount of money, so B can't be the answer.
