Charge for each additional person

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Charge for each additional person

by gmattesttaker2 » Fri May 02, 2014 5:41 pm
Hello,

Can you please help with this question?

For a cruise, a travel agency charges a weekly rate of $400 plus y dollars for each additional person booked on the same reservation. What is the charge for each additional person?

1.The weekly rate for 5 people sharing the cost of the cruise equally is $1600.

2.The weekly rate per person is 20 percent more expensive for 2 people sharing the cost equally than it is for 4 people sharing the cost equally.

OA: D

Weekly Rate = $400 + $y(n - 1) where n = total number of people booked on the same reservation

For 1, I was trying to set up the following equation:

Here n = 5

Hence weekly rate = 400 + y( 5 - 1 )

I was confused whether "The weekly rate for 5 people sharing the cost of the cruise equally is $1600. " means that

( 400 + y(5 - 1) ) / 5 = 1600 ?


Thanks a lot for your help - Sri
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by sanju09 » Fri May 02, 2014 10:21 pm
gmattesttaker2 wrote:Hello,

Can you please help with this question?

For a cruise, a travel agency charges a weekly rate of $400 plus y dollars for each additional person booked on the same reservation. What is the charge for each additional person?

1.The weekly rate for 5 people sharing the cost of the cruise equally is $1600.

2.The weekly rate per person is 20 percent more expensive for 2 people sharing the cost equally than it is for 4 people sharing the cost equally.

OA: D

Weekly Rate = $400 + $y(n - 1) where n = total number of people booked on the same reservation

For 1, I was trying to set up the following equation:

Here n = 5

Hence weekly rate = 400 + y( 5 - 1 )

I was confused whether "The weekly rate for 5 people sharing the cost of the cruise equally is $1600. " means that

( 400 + y(5 - 1) ) / 5 = 1600 ?


Thanks a lot for your help - Sri
Hi Sri,

Assumption here is that the basic reservation is just for one person only, and the question is the value of y. According to the wordings, if there are n persons on the cruise, then there are n - 1 additional persons there, whose weekly rate would amount to ${400 + y (n - 1)}. We'll need to divide it by n only if we have to calculate the weekly rate per person, otherwise we don't need to.

(1) This translates to $(400 + 4y) = $1600; and y can be found out. Sufficiuent

(2) This translates to $(400 + y)/2 = $1.2(400 + 3y)/4, and y can be found out. Sufficiuent

Another problem is that the two statements are contradicting as we get two different values of y, if solved, which never happens on the real GMAT. Either I am missing a thing or the source is dubious.
The mind is everything. What you think you become. -Lord Buddha



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