Problem Solving

BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: Official Guide

Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average (arithmetic mean) of 41,000 tickets per day on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and an average of 18,000 tickets per day on Saturday and Sunday. Which of the following is closest to the total number of tickets sold last year?

A. 1 million
B. 1.25 million
C. 10 million
D. 12.5 million
E. 125 million

The OA is D.

The word "closest" suggests that we can use some estimation here.

Let's first estimate the number of tickets sold PER WEEK
41,000 tickets per day on weekdays
(5)(41,000) = 205,000

18,000 tickets per day on weekends
(2)(18,000) = 36,000

So, total tickets sold PER WEEK = 205,000 + 36,000 = 241,000
To make our calculations easier, let's round it off to 240,000 tickets per week

There are 52 weeks in the years, so the TOTAL (annual) ticket sales is (52)(240,000)
HOWEVER, since the GMAT is not testing whether or not you are a human calculator, we can probably just say there are 50 weeks in a year.

(50)(240,000) = 12,000,000
Of course, there are actually 52 weeks in the year, so the correct answer is a BIT MORE than 12,000,000

Choose D

Cheers,
Brent

BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: Official Guide

Last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average (arithmetic mean) of 41,000 tickets per day on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and an average of 18,000 tickets per day on Saturday and Sunday. Which of the following is closest to the total number of tickets sold last year?

A. 1 million
B. 1.25 million
C. 10 million
D. 12.5 million
E. 125 million

The total number of tickets sold in a week is:

41,000 x 5 + 18,000 x 2 = 205,000 + 36,000 = 241,000

Since there are 52 weeks in a year, then the total number of tickets sold in a year is:

241,000 x 52 ≈ 250,000 x 50 = 12,500,000

Answer: D

Hi All,

We're told that last year, a certain public transportation system sold an average (arithmetic mean) of 41,000 tickets per day on weekdays (Monday through Friday) and an average of 18,000 tickets per day on Saturday and Sunday. We're asked which of the following is closest to the total number of tickets sold last YEAR. Since the answer choices are rather 'spread out', we can use a bit of estimation and some Arithmetic to answer this question.

To start, we can calculate the average number of tickets sold each WEEK:
(5)(41,000) + (2)(18,000) = 205,000 + 36,000 = 241,000/week

241,000 is a little less than 250,000. Thus, since each MONTH will be a little MORE than 4 weeks (with the exception of February, which would be 4 weeks exactly), in a typical month, a bit MORE than 1 million tickets will be sold. Over the course of a full year, the 12 months would lead to total sales over 12 million. There's only one answer that matches...

Final Answer: D

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