Mr. Goldstein decides to buy a new car with a sticker price

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2016 12:46 am
Mr. Goldstein decides to buy a new car with a sticker price of $45,500. If the sales tax comes out to 5 percent of the purchase price, but Mr. Goldstein is able to negotiate a purchase price that is a 20 percent discount off the sticker price, how much sales tax does Mr. Goldstein pay?

a) $455
b) $910
c) $1560
d) $1820
e) $2275

Please assist with above problem.
Source: — Problem Solving |

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:25 am
Location: Boston, MA
Thanked: 1153 times
Followed by:128 members
GMAT Score:770

by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Tue Oct 18, 2016 10:24 am
alanforde800Maximus wrote:Mr. Goldstein decides to buy a new car with a sticker price of $45,500. If the sales tax comes out to 5 percent of the purchase price, but Mr. Goldstein is able to negotiate a purchase price that is a 20 percent discount off the sticker price, how much sales tax does Mr. Goldstein pay?

a) $455
b) $910
c) $1560
d) $1820
e) $2275

Please assist with above problem.
Stick price = 45,500.
Discount of 20% (or 1/5) = 9,100.
Discounted Price = 45,500 - 9,100 = 36,400.
5% of 36,400. Well 10% of 36,400 = 3640. So 5% would be half of that, or 1820. Answer is D
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3008
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:19 am
Location: Grand Central / New York
Thanked: 470 times
Followed by:34 members

by Jay@ManhattanReview » Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:28 am
alanforde800Maximus wrote:Mr. Goldstein decides to buy a new car with a sticker price of $45,500. If the sales tax comes out to 5 percent of the purchase price, but Mr. Goldstein is able to negotiate a purchase price that is a 20 percent discount off the sticker price, how much sales tax does Mr. Goldstein pay?

a) $455
b) $910
c) $1560
d) $1820
e) $2275

Please assist with above problem.
Tax = 5% of Purchase price

=> Tax = 5% of [80% of Sticker price]; After the 20% discount, the purchase price = (100 - 20)% of Sticker price

=> Tax = 5% * 80% * Sticker price

=> Tax = [5/100]*[80/100]*45500

=> Tax = 1/20 * 4/5 * 45500 = $1820.

OA: D

-Jay

_________________
Manhattan Review GMAT Prep

Locations: New York | Beijing | Auckland | Milan | and many more...

Schedule your free consultation with an experienced GMAT Prep Advisor! Click here.

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Dec 20, 2016 1:26 pm
Hi alanforde800Maximus,

The answer choices to this question are 'spread out' enough that you can do some estimation (without having to do every exact calculation).

The starting sticker price on a car is $45,500, which I'll 'round down' to $45,000.
The 20% discount off of THAT price would be: $45,000 - (.2)($45,000) = $45,000 - $9,000 = $36,000
The 5% tax on the $36,000 = (.05)($36,000) = $1800

Since I rounded down the initial car price, the correct answer would be a little more than $1800....

Final Answer: D

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 8085
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 43 times
Followed by:29 members

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Tue Jan 03, 2017 4:21 pm
alanforde800Maximus wrote:Mr. Goldstein decides to buy a new car with a sticker price of $45,500. If the sales tax comes out to 5 percent of the purchase price, but Mr. Goldstein is able to negotiate a purchase price that is a 20 percent discount off the sticker price, how much sales tax does Mr. Goldstein pay?

a) $455
b) $910
c) $1560
d) $1820
e) $2275
We are given that Mr. Goldstein negotiates a purchase price that is 20% less than $45,500.

Thus he pays:

0.8 x 45,500 = $36,400

Since tax is 5% of the purchase price, the amount of tax is:

36,400 x 0.05 = $1,820

Answer: D

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

Image

See why Target Test Prep is rated 5 out of 5 stars on BEAT the GMAT. Read our reviews

ImageImage