Cable TV-GprepII

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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by loki.gmat » Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:54 pm
it's clear that from statement1 we get the required answer.
now from statement2 we get the following equation -
assume n = no of cable outlet.
(30+20n) = total amount that the company charged the horace fly.

now we have (30+20n) = 30n
as 30 is the average charge per cable outlet.

solving the above eqn we get n=3.

hence total charges will be 30 +20*3=90.

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by lunarpower » Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:28 pm
the cost of the installation is 30 + 20x, where x represents the number of outlets installed in the home. so, this question can be rephrased as
what is 30 + 20x?

furthermore, that's just a linear expression; if you have the value of x, you can just plug it in to find 30 + 20x, and if you have the value of 30 + 20x, you can just solve to find x. therefore, this question can be further rephrased as
what is x? or, how many outlets were installed?

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statement (1)
x = 3
sufficient.

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statement (2)
remember that SUM = AVERAGE x NUMBER.
therefore, if the average cost per outlet was $30, then this equation gives
total cost = (30)(x).
but we also know that the total cost is 30 + 20x, per the prompt. therefore, we can set up the following equation:
30x = 30 + 20x
that's a linear equation, so it can be solved for x.
sufficient.

alternatively, you can use the original definition of average, which is really just a rearranged version of the formula above:
AVERAGE = SUM / NUMBER
therefore,
30 = (30 + 20x) / x
multiply by x on both sides to give 30x = 30 + 20x, the same linear equation that was found above.
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