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At a supermarket, John spent

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At a supermarket, John spent

by boomgoesthegmat » Thu Apr 28, 2016 1:35 pm
At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruits and vegetables, 1/3 on meat products, and 1/10 on bakery products. If he spent the remaining $6 on candy, how much did John spend at the supermarket?

A) $60
B) $80
C) $90
D) $120
E) $180

B
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Thu Apr 28, 2016 2:18 pm
Say m = his money.

(1/2)m + (1/3)m + (1/10)m + 6 = m

6 = m - (1/2)m - (1/3)m - (1/10)m

6 = (1/15)m

90 = m
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by [email protected] » Thu Apr 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Hi boomgoesthegmat,

This question can be solved by TESTing THE ANSWERS.

We know that John has an unknown amount of money, but he spends it in the following way:
1/2 of the money is spent on fruit and vegetables
1/3 of the money is spent on meat
1/10 of the money is spent on bakery products.
AND then the remaining $6 is spent on candy.

Notice that the answer choices are all integers. Given that the fractions have a common-denominator of 30, the correct answer is likely a multiple of 30. By TESTing one of the two 'middle' multiples of 30 in the answers, we have a good chance of either finding the correct answer or being able to determine if we're 'too big' or 'too small' on the first try and get the correct answer without having to TEST more than one answer.

Let's TEST Answer C: $90

IF the total was $90, then...
$45 is spent on fruit and vegetables
$30 is spent on meat
$9 is spent on bakery products.

45+30+9 = 84
This leaves 90-84 = $6 which is exactly what the rest of the question states, so this MUST be the answer.

Final Answer: C

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by SampathKp » Fri Dec 20, 2019 4:29 pm
boomgoesthegmat wrote:At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruits and vegetables, 1/3 on meat products, and 1/10 on bakery products. If he spent the remaining $6 on candy, how much did John spend at the supermarket?

A) $60
B) $80
C) $90
D) $120
E) $180

B
Total money spent on super market = X

So given equation can be written as

X/2+X/3+x/10+6 = X

LCM of denominators 2, 3 10 and 1 on LHS of equation is 30
So equation can be written as 15X+10X+3X+180 = 30X
X= 90

Answer is C
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