## At the end of year $$X,$$ automobile installment credit accounted for $$36\%$$ of all outstanding consumer installment

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### At the end of year $$X,$$ automobile installment credit accounted for $$36\%$$ of all outstanding consumer installment

by Gmat_mission » Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:06 am

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At the end of year $$X,$$ automobile installment credit accounted for $$36\%$$ of all outstanding consumer installment credit. At that time automobile finance companies extended $$\57$$ billion of credit or $$\dfrac13$$ of the automobile installment credit. How many billion dollars of consumer installment credit was outstanding at that time?

A. 62
B. 171
C. 475
D. 513
E. 684

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### Re: At the end of year $$X,$$ automobile installment credit accounted for $$36\%$$ of all outstanding consumer installme

by [email protected] » Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:19 pm
Gmat_mission wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:06 am
At the end of year $$X,$$ automobile installment credit accounted for $$36\%$$ of all outstanding consumer installment credit. At that time automobile finance companies extended $$\57$$ billion of credit or $$\dfrac13$$ of the automobile installment credit. How many billion dollars of consumer installment credit was outstanding at that time?

A. 62
B. 171
C. 475
D. 513
E. 684

$57 billion of credit equals 1/3 of the automobile installment credit So, the automobile installment credit = (3)($57 billion) = $171 billion Automobile installment credit accounted for 36% of all outstanding consumer installment credit IMPORTANT ESTIMATION CONCEPTS: If x is 25% of y, then y = 4x If x is 33 1/3% of y, then y = 3x If x is 50% of y, then y = 2x Since 36% is a little more than 33 1/3% we can conclude the following: if x is 36% of y, then y = a little less than 3x The question tells us that automobile installment credit (worth$171 billion) accounts 36% of all outstanding consumer installment credit.
In other words, $171 billion is 36% of all outstanding consumer installment credit. So, all outstanding consumer installment credit = little less than 3($171)
3(171) = 513, so the correct answer is a little less than $513 billion. Answer choice C is a little less than$513 billion, so it must be the correct answer.