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Price of Basic Computer

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Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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by BS2009 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:32 pm

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Difficulty—

I know this is a fairly simple problem, but something about the wording is really throwing me off

The total price of a basic computer and printer are $2,500. If the same printer had been purchased with an enhanced computer whose price was $500 more than the price of the basic computer, then the price of the printer would have been 1/5 of that total. What was the price of the basic computer?

a) $1500
b) $1600
c) $1750
d) $1900
e) $2000

Answer is d

Thanks in advance!
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by ssmiles08 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:38 pm
The question stem simplified into equations is:

1p + 1c = 2500

1sc = 500 + 1c

so 1p + 1sc = 2500 + 500 (3000)

1p = 1/5(3000)

p = 600

plug it back into the original equation: 600 + 1c = 2500; 1c = 1900 (D)
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by BS2009 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:44 pm
Thank you! I kept getting confused about the words "that total."
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by ghacker » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:10 am
price of the basic computer = 2500-(3000)/5
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by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Wed Dec 13, 2017 4:01 pm
BS2009 wrote:
The total price of a basic computer and printer are $2,500. If the same printer had been purchased with an enhanced computer whose price was $500 more than the price of the basic computer, then the price of the printer would have been 1/5 of that total. What was the price of the basic computer?

a) $1500
b) $1600
c) $1750
d) $1900
e) $2000
We are given that the total price of a basic computer and a printer was $2,500. If we let a = the price of the basic computer and b = the price of the printer, we can create the following equation:

a + b = 2,500

We are next given that if the same printer had been purchased with an enhanced computer whose price was $500 more than the price of the basic computer, then the price of the printer would have been 1/5 of that total.

If we let the price of the enhanced computer = 500 + a, then we can create the following equation:

(1/5)(500 + a + b) = b

Since a + b = 2,500, we can substitute 2,500 for a + b into the equation (1/5)(500 + a + b) = b.

(1/5)(500 + 2,500) = b

(1/5)(3,000) = b

600 = b

Since b = 600 and a + b = 2,500, we can determine the value of a.

a + 600 = 2,500

a = 1,900

Alternate Solution

The package price of the enhanced computer + printer is $3000. One-fifth of that total is $600, which is the price of the printer by itself. Since the package price of the basic computer + printer is $2,500, we subtract the printer price of $600, getting $1,900 as the price of the basic computer only.

Answer: D

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

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