lionsshare wrote:A project scheduled to be carried out over a single fiscal year has a budget of $12,600, divided into12 equal monthly allocations. At the end of the fourth month of that fiscal year, the total amount actually spent on the project was $4,580. By how much was the project over its budget?

(A) $380
(B) $540
(C) $1,050
(D) $1,380
(E) $1,430

We know that our yearly budget must be divided into 12 EQUAL monthly allocations, so we need to divide $12,600 by 12. This will give us the amount of each monthly allocation. We have:

$12,600/12 = $1,050

Thus, $1,050 should be spent PER MONTH on the project. Therefore, after 4 months, 4 x $1,050 = $4,200 should have been spent on the project.

However, we are told that $4,580 was actually spent, so the project was over budget by:

$4,580 - $4,200 = $380

Answer: A