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# This topic has 1 expert reply and 0 member replies

### Top Member

BTGmoderatorDC Moderator
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#### George bought a large electronic item with a 15% off coupon,

Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:31 pm

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

## Global Stats

Difficult

George bought a large electronic item with a 15% off coupon, and paid a total bill. When he got outside, he studied the receipt and realize that he mistakenly had been given double the discount of the coupon, even though there was no double-coupon offer in effect that day. He went back inside and pointed this mistake out to the manager, offering to make the the difference between what he paid and what he should have paid. The manager was so grateful for George's honesty that he allowed George to pay just half that difference, so George paid him $40.50. What was the original price of the item, before any coupons? Assume that there was no tax at all in this scenario. A)$135
B) $270 C)$405
D) $540 E)$810

OA D

Source: Magoosh

### GMAT/MBA Expert

Rich.C@EMPOWERgmat.com Elite Legendary Member
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Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:08 pm
Hi All,

We're told that George bought a large electronic item with a 15% off coupon, and paid a total bill. When he got outside, he studied the receipt and realize that he mistakenly had been given double the discount of the coupon, even though there was no double-coupon offer in effect that day. He went back inside and pointed this mistake out to the manager, offering to make the the difference between what he paid and what he should have paid. The manager was so grateful for George's honesty that he allowed George to pay just half that difference, so George paid him $40.50. We're asked for the ORIGINAL price of the item, before any coupons (assuming that there was no tax in this scenario)? This question can be solved in a number of different ways, including by TESTing THE ANSWERS. Since the original discount was 15% - and the 'deal' George received was to pay back HALF of an extra 15% discount, the$40.50 he paid back was relatively small compared to the original price. Based on the answer choices, the overall price of the item had to be more than 10 times the $40.50 he paid back, so we should TEST one of the larger options first. Answer D:$540
IF... the original price was $540, a 15% discount would have been (.15)($540) = $81 half of$81 = \$40.50. This is an exact match for what we were told, so this must be the answer.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

_________________
Contact Rich at Rich.C@empowergmat.com

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