BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem
TTP OnDemand GMAT Video Course
Featured Course

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Scott Woodbury-Stewart’s private virtual classroom — 400 hours of master-class video lessons for the GMAT Focus Edition.

  • 715+ score guarantee — highest in the industry (99th percentile)
  • 52 chapters · 1,500+ lessons · 4,000+ practice questions
  • 400 hours of video · 1,500+ instructor-led HD smartboard lessons
  • 300,000+ students accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth & Sloan & more
  • 24/7 live support + weekly Zoom office hours with GMAT instructors
  • TTP AI Assist — 24/7 AI-powered virtual tutor for instant help
  • 1,200+ flashcards + AI-powered study assistant & daily calendar
  • OnDemand, LiveTeach & GMAT Bootcamp formats available
  • Also: GRE, SAT Math & Executive Assessment courses
  • MBA Admissions Consulting now available
  • 🏆 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Award: Test Prep Solution Provider of the Year
  • 200,000+ students served
  • 5-day free trial — $0 to start, no auto-billing, cancel anytime
★★★★★ 5.0 (559 reviews)
130-pt guarantee
$0 to start then $127/mo
Start Free 5-Day Trial Read 559 Reviews →

Help required (Applied problems, simultaneous Equation)

Expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:15 am
Thanked: 7 times
by Dblooos » Thu Dec 12, 2013 6:58 pm
Salesperson A's compensation for any week is $360 plus 6 percent of the portion of A's total sale above $1,000 for that week. Salesperson B's compensation for any week is 8 percent of B's total sales for that week. For what amount of total weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation?
A. 21000
B. 18000
C. 15000
D. 4500
E. 4000
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Source: — Problem Solving |
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 490
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:30 amFollowed by: 5 members
Location: Chennai, India
Thanked: 83 times

by Uva@90 » Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:26 pm
Dblooos wrote:Salesperson A's compensation for any week is $360 plus 6 percent of the portion of A's total sale above $1,000 for that week. Salesperson B's compensation for any week is 8 percent of B's total sales for that week. For what amount of total weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation?
A. 21000
B. 18000
C. 15000
D. 4500
E. 4000
Hi Dblooos,
Let's take compensation for A is Ca
and compensation for B is Cb.

Total Sale made by A for week be Sa
and Sale made by B for week is Sb.

We can form an equation
Ca = 360 + (6/100)(Sa-1000) and
Cb = (8/100)*Sb

Now select answer such that which satisfies both equation, i.e. Ca = Cb
Only Option matches is C

Regards,
Uva.
Known is a drop Unknown is an Ocean
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:15 am
Thanked: 7 times

by Dblooos » Fri Dec 13, 2013 3:56 am
Uva
Thank you for your quick response. However, my confusion is emanating from the fact that Question says, "for what amount of TOTAL weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation". So am I doing a mistake by assuming Sa=Sb=15,000 should it not be Sa+Sb=30,000 (total weekly sales) Please explain..
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:18 am
Salesperson A's compensation for any week is $360 plus 6 percent of the portion of A's total sales above $1,000 for that week. Salesperson B's compensation for any week is 8 percent of B's total sales for that week. For what amount of total weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation?

(A)$21,000
(B)$18,000
(C)$15,000
(D)$4,500
(E)$4,000
We can plug in the answers, which represent the total sales.
When the correct answer is plugged in, A's compensation = B's compensation.
Start with C, the middle answer choice.

C: 15,000
Here, A's sales above 1000 = 15000-1000 = 14000.
A's compensation = 360 + .06(14000) = 360 + 840 = 1200.
B's compensation = .08(15000) = 1200.
Success!

The correct answer is C.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:15 am
Thanked: 7 times

by Dblooos » Sat Dec 14, 2013 4:31 pm
GmatGuru,

Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate your help. However, I have two questions:

1. Here we kind of knew the answer so we solved backward but won't it be time consuming to solve through all the choices if the right choice was choice E. I am struggling to bring my time under 2 mins per question. So any strategies would be much appreciated.

2. Equation for A's compensation is incorrect as 15,000 is total weekly sale and not A's weekly sale. Am I thinking wrong?
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 490
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:30 amFollowed by: 5 members
Location: Chennai, India
Thanked: 83 times

by Uva@90 » Sat Dec 14, 2013 8:10 pm
Dblooos wrote:Uva
Thank you for your quick response. However, my confusion is emanating from the fact that Question says, "for what amount of TOTAL weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation". So am I doing a mistake by assuming Sa=Sb=15,000 should it not be Sa+Sb=30,000 (total weekly sales) Please explain..
Hi Dblooos,

Question States,
Salesperson A's compensation for any week is $360 plus 6 percent of the portion of A's total sales above $1,000 for that week. Salesperson B's compensation for any week is 8 percent of B's total sales for that week. For what amount of total weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation?
If you see the Highlighted things in green color. we can understand, what ever given for A's compensation is TOTAL for that week, Similarly What ever given for B's compensation is TOTAL for that week.

What we are asked to find is for what amount will both their TOTAL Compensation will be same.

In question no-where it is mentioned to find the SUM of TOTAL compensation for the week.

Hope I made it clear.

Regards,
Uva.
Known is a drop Unknown is an Ocean
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3650
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:27 amFollowed by: 80 members
Location: India
Thanked: 267 times
GMAT Score:760

by sanju09 » Sun Dec 15, 2013 12:23 am
Uva@90 wrote:
Dblooos wrote:Uva
Thank you for your quick response. However, my confusion is emanating from the fact that Question says, "for what amount of TOTAL weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation". So am I doing a mistake by assuming Sa=Sb=15,000 should it not be Sa+Sb=30,000 (total weekly sales) Please explain..
Hi Dblooos,

Question States,
Salesperson A's compensation for any week is $360 plus 6 percent of the portion of A's total sales above $1,000 for that week. Salesperson B's compensation for any week is 8 percent of B's total sales for that week. For what amount of total weekly sales would both salespeople earn the same compensation?
If you see the Highlighted things in green color. we can understand, what ever given for A's compensation is TOTAL for that week, Similarly What ever given for B's compensation is TOTAL for that week.

What we are asked to find is for what amount will both their TOTAL Compensation will be same.

In question no-where it is mentioned to find the SUM of TOTAL compensation for the week.

Hope I made it clear.

Regards,
Uva.
Testing the choices to match the conditions of the question is the best, accurate, and the fastest approach in such kind of questions where there are known numbers in the answers. GMATGuruNY did the same thing. Starting from C has a cause behind the strategy, so it wasn't by chance.
The mind is everything. What you think you become. -Lord Buddha



Sanjeev K Saxena
Quantitative Instructor
The Princeton Review - Manya Abroad
Lucknow-226001

www.manyagroup.com
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:15 am
Thanked: 7 times

by Dblooos » Sun Dec 15, 2013 6:39 am
Thank you UVA, I see what you are saying. I wish they wrote for what amount of THEIR total weekly sales..... It would have become more clear. Anyways Thank you so much.

Sanju,
Can you please elaborate on testing answer choices strategies?
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3650
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:27 amFollowed by: 80 members
Location: India
Thanked: 267 times
GMAT Score:760

by sanju09 » Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:35 pm
Dblooos wrote:Thank you UVA, I see what you are saying. I wish they wrote for what amount of THEIR total weekly sales..... It would have become more clear. Anyways Thank you so much.

Sanju,
Can you please elaborate on testing answer choices strategies?
Hi Dblooos,

When there are numbers in the answers, knowing the fact that ETS writes numbers in order (ascending or descending), we can exploit it to our favor by starting testing from C. If it works, nothing like that; but if it doesn't work, not an issue, by some smart reasoning we can decide where to move, up or down. This approach would enable us eliminate three answer choices in a single go. Now, we can either make a guess if time is short, or we can test one of the remaining two choices (say D & E), if D works, hooray, otherwise it's blindly E.

Some GMAT trainers call it Plug In The Answers Strategy while some call it Back Solving Strategy. This is often the elusive technique that high-scorers don't think of when under time pressure on hard questions. Therefore it can be very powerful. Not sure what to do? Numbers in the answers? Try Plug In The Answers Strategy.
The mind is everything. What you think you become. -Lord Buddha



Sanjeev K Saxena
Quantitative Instructor
The Princeton Review - Manya Abroad
Lucknow-226001

www.manyagroup.com
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:17 am
Dblooos wrote: Here we kind of knew the answer so we solved backward but won't it be time consuming to solve through all the choices if the right choice was choice E. I am struggling to bring my time under 2 mins per question. So any strategies would be much appreciated.
The best way to understand how to PLUG IN THE ANSWERS efficiently is to study examples and then to practice on your own.
In the upper right corner of BTG is a search bar.
Enter "gmatguruny" and "plug in the answers", and you'll get a list of problems that I've solved by plugging in the answer choices.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1