mdwolman wrote:Alice's take home pay last year was the same each month, and she saved the same fraction of her take home pay each month. The total amount of money that she had saved at the end of the year was 3 times the amount of that portion of her monthly take home pay that she did not save. If all the money that she saved last year was from her take-home pay, what fraction of her take home pay did she save last month?
a) 1/2
b) 1/3
c) 1/4
d) 1/5
e) 1/6
We can plug in the answers, which represent the fraction saved each month.
Plug in monthly pay = 60. (60 is a good number because it's divisible by all the denominators in the answer choices.)
Answer choice C: 1/4 saved each month
1/4 * 60 = 15 saved each month, 45 not saved.
12*15 = 180 total saved for the whole year.
(Total saved)/(monthly not saved) = 180/45 = 4. We need her to save less.
Answer choice D: 1/5 saved each month
1/5 * 60 = 12 saved each month, 48 not saved.
12*12 = 144 total saved for the whole year.
(Total saved)/(monthly not saved) = 144/48 = 3. Success!
The correct answer is
D.
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