Last year, Christine received 12 monthly paychecks. Each of

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Last year, Christine received 12 monthly paychecks. Each of the first four months' paychecks was for $4,500, and each of the remaining months' paychecks was for $4,800. What was her average paycheck for the year?

A. $4,600
B. $4,650
C. $4,700
D. $4,750
E. $4,800

The OA is C.

I solved this PS question as follow,

$$Average\ =\frac{\ 4\cdot4500+8\cdot4800}{12}=4700$$

Please, can anyone explain another way to solve it? Thanks in advance!
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:20 pm
BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Last year, Christine received 12 monthly paychecks. Each of the first four months' paychecks was for $4,500, and each of the remaining months' paychecks was for $4,800. What was her average paycheck for the year?

A. $4,600
B. $4,650
C. $4,700
D. $4,750
E. $4,800
Another approach is to use weighted averages.

Weighted average of groups combined = (group A proportion)(group A average) + (group B proportion)(group B average) + (group C proportion)(group C average) + ...

In this question, the proportion of $4500 paychecks = 4/12 = 1/3
And the proportion of $4800 paychecks = 8/12 = 2/3

Plugging these values into the formula, we get: average paycheck = (1/3)($4500) + (2/3)($4800)
= $1500 + $3200
= $4700

Answer: C

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:36 pm
BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Last year, Christine received 12 monthly paychecks. Each of the first four months' paychecks was for $4,500, and each of the remaining months' paychecks was for $4,800. What was her average paycheck for the year?

A. $4,600
B. $4,650
C. $4,700
D. $4,750
E. $4,800
We can create a weighted average equation:

(4 x 4500 + 8 x 4800)/12 = (18,000 + 38,400)/12 = 4,700

Answer: C

Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
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