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Word problem (book answer looks dubious)

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Word problem (book answer looks dubious)

by Vishnu88 » Sat May 07, 2011 1:38 pm
A jewelry dealer initially offered a bracelet for sale at an asking price that would give a profit to the dealer of 40 percent of the original cost. What was the original cost of the bracelet?

1. After reducing this asking price by 10 percent, the jewelry dealer sold the bracelet at a profit of $403
2. The jewelry dealer sold the bracelet for $1,953

While this might look straightforward, I just wanted to cross verify my answer since I feel the book answer might be wrong.
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |
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by vineeshp » Sat May 07, 2011 7:34 pm
Answer looks like D to me. What is the OA?
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by smackmartine » Sat May 07, 2011 9:30 pm
IMO D

Asking Price - A
Orignal cost - C

Given A =1.4* C , What is the value of C ???

1) 0.9 A - C = 403 (two variables & two equation) Sufficient

2) A= $ 1953 , C = 1953/1.4 - Sufficient

D

Vishnu88 wrote:A jewelry dealer initially offered a bracelet for sale at an asking price that would give a profit to the dealer of 40 percent of the original cost. What was the original cost of the bracelet?

1. After reducing this asking price by 10 percent, the jewelry dealer sold the bracelet at a profit of $403
2. The jewelry dealer sold the bracelet for $1,953

While this might look straightforward, I just wanted to cross verify my answer since I feel the book answer might be wrong.
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by Vishnu88 » Sun May 08, 2011 12:01 am
I agree with D but the OA is E.
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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sun May 08, 2011 5:13 pm
Vishnu88 wrote:A jewelry dealer initially offered a bracelet for sale at an asking price that would give a profit to the dealer of 40 percent of the original cost. What was the original cost of the bracelet?

1. After reducing this asking price by 10 percent, the jewelry dealer sold the bracelet at a profit of $403
2. The jewelry dealer sold the bracelet for $1,953

While this might look straightforward, I just wanted to cross verify my answer since I feel the book answer might be wrong.
Hi,

we can quickly determine that (2) is insufficient alone, since we're not told that he sold the bracelet for the original asking price; we certainly can't assume such to be the case. For all we know he had to discount the bracelet 12 times before he eventually sold it.

Since we don't know the relationship between the final selling price and the asking price, (2) is insufficient.

(1), on the other hand, is looking pretty good (smackmartine's algebra is dead on). Given those two equations:

A = 1.4C

and

0.9 A - C = 403

.9(1.4C) - C = 403

allowing us to solve for C. Since (1) is sufficient and (2) isn't, (A) should be the accredited answer.

I'm a bit surprised that you haven't told us the source of the question; my first reaction to your post was "where is the question from?" It's helpful to post the source of every question, so that readers have a good sense of how seriously to take the question and how reliable the sources out there are.
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by vineeshp » Sun May 08, 2011 6:48 pm
Stuart! Your reply and your GMAT score tell a story. :) Hats off to you mate. What an easy mistake to make.

And I agree with you. Posters, please put the source. If the answer is not what it seems to be, it puts a doubt into the aspirants because they think their understanding of the problem is wrong, while the actual reason would be that the question itself is wrong!
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by [email protected] » Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:19 pm
Stuart Kovinsky wrote:
Vishnu88 wrote:A jewelry dealer initially offered a bracelet for sale at an asking price that would give a profit to the dealer of 40 percent of the original cost. What was the original cost of the bracelet?

1. After reducing this asking price by 10 percent, the jewelry dealer sold the bracelet at a profit of $403
2. The jewelry dealer sold the bracelet for $1,953

While this might look straightforward, I just wanted to cross verify my answer since I feel the book answer might be wrong.
Hi,

we can quickly determine that (2) is insufficient alone, since we're not told that he sold the bracelet for the original asking price; we certainly can't assume such to be the case. For all we know he had to discount the bracelet 12 times before he eventually sold it.

Since we don't know the relationship between the final selling price and the asking price, (2) is insufficient.

(1), on the other hand, is looking pretty good (smackmartine's algebra is dead on). Given those two equations:

A = 1.4C

and

0.9 A - C = 403

.9(1.4C) - C = 403

allowing us to solve for C. Since (1) is sufficient and (2) isn't, (A) should be the accredited answer.

I'm a bit surprised that you haven't told us the source of the question; my first reaction to your post was "where is the question from?" It's helpful to post the source of every question, so that readers have a good sense of how seriously to take the question and how reliable the sources out there are.

ACCORDING TO ME THE ANSWER IS D
LET THE SELLING PRICE BE X AND THE ORIGINAL COST BE Y.
FROM QUESTION WE KNOW THAT X-Y = .4Y OR X = 1.4Y. (STATEMENT 1)
FROM STATEMENT 1: .9X -Y = 403 (STATEMENT 2) SO WE HAVE TO VARIABLE AND TWO STATEMENT SO WE CAN SOLVE IT FOR X AND Y.
FROM STATEMENT 2: X - Y = 1953 (STATEMENT 3). WE CAN SOLVE THIS FROM STATEMENT 1. HENCE SUFFICIENT. SO THE ANSWER IS D.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHETHER I AM CORRECT OR WRONG.
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by [email protected] » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:53 pm
I do not care about the source of this question. My answer is coming out to be D. Both statements are sufficient.
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