Hi Shibsriz,

Each of the responses to your question provides a proper math explanation, so there's nothing to add there. In situations that involve a percent change from one year to the next, it's important that you follow this rule: "math moves forwards"

Here, the mean salary in 2000 was 14% GREATER than the mean salary in 1999. You MUST do the math "forwards" from 1999 to 2000. Setting up the equation would yield:

X = salary in 1999

X + .14X = 1.14X = salary in 2000

Some people make the mistake of trying to go "backwards" with the math. The math doesn't work that way though, so make sure that you're doing your percent change calculations forwards.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

The table tells us that the median salary in 2000 was 14% greater than the median salary in 1999.

IMPORTANT: A lot of students look at this and conclude (incorrectly) that the median salary in 1999 was 14% LESS than the median salary in 2000.
This is a common error that the the GMAT loves to test. In fact, answer choice B ($86000) is the incorrect answer choice that many students will choose.

This misconception is so prevalent among the general public that I wrote an article about it last month: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2014/05/ ... ts-part-ii

Cheers,
Brent