smclean23 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.

Answer is A.....I understand (1), but if he sold the bracelet for $1953, which is a 40% profit to find the original cost...wouldn't 1.4x=1953 be sufficient?

A jewelry dealer initially offered a bracelet for sale at an asking price that would ...

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

smclean23 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.

Answer is A.....I understand (1), but if he sold the bracelet for $1953, which is a 40% profit to find the original cost...wouldn't 1.4x=1953 be sufficient?

You have to read the stem very carefully:

A jewelry dealer initially offered a bracelet for sale at an asking price that would ...

If you decide that (2) is sufficient alone, you're assuming that the final selling price is the same as the initial selling price. Since we're not explicitly told that the two prices are the same, we shouldn't assume that they are.

Just curious, what's the source of this question?