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Nancy's furniture store sales

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Nancy's furniture store sales

by LulaBrazilia » Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:23 pm
In a certain furniture store, each week Nancy earns a salary of $240 plus 5 percent of the amount of her total sales that exceeds $800 for the week. If Nancy earned a total of $450 one week, what were her total sales that week?

A) $2,200

B) $3,450

C) $4,200

D) $4,250

E) $5,000
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by [email protected] » Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:36 pm
Hi LulaBrazilia,

You can solve this question algebraically or by TESTING the Answers. Here's how you can use the answers to your advantage...

Let's TEST answer D:

If Nancy sold $4250 in furniture, she'd get $240 + 5% of $3450....

240 + .05(3450) = 240 + 172.50 = $412.50

$412.50 is not enough money to match the $450 that she actually received, which means that answer D is TOO LOW. So we need an answer that gets her more money.

Final Answer: E

It's the only answer that's left and makes sense.

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by Patrick_GMATFix » Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:41 pm
Nancy's pay is made up of a base pay of $240 and a bonus of 5% of any sales above $800. Since Nancy earned $450, we know that the $230 bonus corresponds to 5% of sales above 800. The equation $230 = 5% * x would allow us to find x, the portion of sales above $800. Adding $800 to that portion will yield her total sales (800+x). The full solution below is taken from the GMATFix App.

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by [email protected] » Sat Feb 01, 2014 3:44 pm
Hi LulaBrazilia,

Here's the algebra solution:

Since Nancy gets 5% commission on sales that EXCEED $800, we have to factor that fact into the equation:

450 = 240 + .05(X - 800)

Now, it's just algebra:

210 = .05X - 40

250 = .05X

20(250) = .05X(20)

5,000 = X

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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Feb 01, 2014 4:01 pm
LulaBrazilia wrote:In a certain furniture store, each week Nancy earns a salary of $240 plus 5 percent of the amount of her total sales that exceeds $800 for the week. If Nancy earned a total of $450 one week, what were her total sales that week?

A) $2,200

B) $3,450

C) $4,200

D) $4,250

E) $5,000
Commission = total earned - salary = 450-240 = 210.

We can PLUG IN THE ANSWERS, which represent the total sales.
The commission is 5%.
Since 5% = 1/20, the correct answer choice must be a multiple of 20.
Eliminate B and D.

Answer choice C: 4200
Sales that exceed 800 = 4200-800 = 3400.
Commission = 5% of 3400 = 170.
Too small.

The correct answer is E.
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