Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average

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BTGModeratorVI: Legendary Member; Posts: 1223; Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:23 pm; Followed by:1 members

Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average

by BTGModeratorVI » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:48 am

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Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average (arithmetic mean) of 41,000 tickets per day on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and an average of 18,000 tickets per day on Saturday and Sunday. Which of the following is closest to the total number of tickets sold last year?

(A) 1 million
(B) 1.25 million
(C) 10 million
(D) 12.5 million
(E) 125 million

Answer: D
Source: Official guide

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:48 am

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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; Followed by:1268 members; GMAT Score:770

Re: Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Jun 06, 2020 8:21 am

BTGModeratorVI wrote: ↑
Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:48 am
Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average (arithmetic mean) of 41,000 tickets per day on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and an average of 18,000 tickets per day on Saturday and Sunday. Which of the following is closest to the total number of tickets sold last year?

(A) 1 million
(B) 1.25 million
(C) 10 million
(D) 12.5 million
(E) 125 million

Answer: D
Source: Official guide

The word "closest" suggests that we can use some estimation here.

Let's first estimate the number of tickets sold PER WEEK
41,000 tickets per day on weekdays
(5)(41,000) = 205,000

18,000 tickets per day on weekends
(2)(18,000) = 36,000

So, total tickets sold PER WEEK = 205,000 + 36,000 = 241,000
To make our calculations easier, let's round it off to 240,000 tickets per week

There are 52 weeks in the years, so the TOTAL (annual) ticket sales is (52)(240,000)
HOWEVER, since the GMAT is not testing whether or not you are a human calculator, we can probably just say there are 50 weeks in a year.

(50)(240,000) = 12,000,000
Of course, there are actually 52 weeks in the year, so the correct answer is a BIT MORE than 12,000,000

Choose D

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8086; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times; Followed by:29 members

Re: Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:31 pm

BTGModeratorVI wrote: ↑
Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:48 am
Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average (arithmetic mean) of 41,000 tickets per day on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and an average of 18,000 tickets per day on Saturday and Sunday. Which of the following is closest to the total number of tickets sold last year?

(A) 1 million
(B) 1.25 million
(C) 10 million
(D) 12.5 million
(E) 125 million

Answer: D
Source: Official guide

The total number of tickets sold in a week is:

41,000 x 5 + 18,000 x 2 = 205,000 + 36,000 = 241,000

Since there are 52 weeks in a year, then the total number of tickets sold in a year is:

241,000 x 52 ≈ 250,000 x 50 = 12,500,000

Answer: D

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
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