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OG percentage problem

Expert replies
by aleph777 » Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:52 pm
Here's a question from the OG 12 that I was able to solve, albeit inefficiently. And the OG solution doesn't make sense to me, so I'd really appreciate anyone's shortcut tips!

Pg 259, Quest 220:

A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25% decided to reduce the number of hours worked per week so that the employee's total weekly income would remain unchanged. By what percent should the number of hours worked be reduced?

A 12.5%
B 20%
C 25%
D 50%
E 75%

I plugged in an imaginary wage and work week and solved from there. If the employee was previously paid $10/hour and worked 40 hours a week, he made $400 a week. His raise set him at $12.50/hour, and if he wanted to reduce his hours and earn the same amount, then 12.5x = 400 and x = 8. The final step is to solve for the percentage 2/10, which is 20%.

The OG solves algebraically, though:

1.25wH = wh

Both sides divided by w for:

1.25H = h

But then it says:

H= 0.8h

Seems like a much quicker formula, but where does the 0.8 come from?

Thanks!

Matthew
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by amising6 » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:14 pm
A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25% decided to reduce the number of hours worked per week so that the employee's total weekly income would remain unchanged. By what percent should the number of hours worked be reduced?
income=number of hours * hourly wage
number of hours=h
hourly wage=w
income=h*w


hourly wage was increased by 25%
new hourly wage h=h+25% of h=1.25 h
let new wage be w1
so income=1.25h1*w1
now income is remaining unchanged
so we can say h*w= 1.25h*w1
w=1.25 w1
w/1.25=w1
0.8w=w1
thus you can see how they are getting 0.8
now % reduction w-0.8w/w*100=20%
Ideation without execution is delusion
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by sk818020 » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:29 pm
From 1.25H = h;

divide both sides by 1.25;

H=(1/1.25)*h

1/1.25=4/5 [multiply (1/1.25)(4/4)]

4/5=.8

So H=(4/5)h, or H=.8h, or 1.25H=h, they're all the same.

Hope this helps.

Jared
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:08 pm
aleph777 wrote:Here's a question from the OG 12 that I was able to solve, albeit inefficiently. And the OG solution doesn't make sense to me, so I'd really appreciate anyone's shortcut tips!

Pg 259, Quest 220:

A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25% decided to reduce the number of hours worked per week so that the employee's total weekly income would remain unchanged. By what percent should the number of hours worked be reduced?

A 12.5%
B 20%
C 25%
D 50%
E 75%

I plugged in an imaginary wage and work week and solved from there. If the employee was previously paid $10/hour and worked 40 hours a week, he made $400 a week. His raise set him at $12.50/hour, and if he wanted to reduce his hours and earn the same amount, then 12.5x = 400 and x = 8. The final step is to solve for the percentage 2/10, which is 20%.

The OG solves algebraically, though:

1.25wH = wh

Both sides divided by w for:

1.25H = h

But then it says:

H= 0.8h

Seems like a much quicker formula, but where does the 0.8 come from?

Thanks!

Matthew
When you plug in, use numbers that will make the math easy:

Since his hourly rate is going to increase by 25%, we should plug in an hourly rate that is divisible by 4. Rate = $4/hour.
Since the question is asking by what percent the numbers of hours must decrease, we should plug in hours = 100.

pay is 4*100=400
new rate is $5/hour
to make $400, needs to work 400/5=80 hours
100 hours to 80 hours is a 20% decrease

Much cleaner and quicker. The correct answer is B.
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