Solve these three PS questions

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Solve these three PS questions

by mermade » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:54 pm
1. Of the science books in a certain supply room, 50 are on botany, 65 are on zoology, 90 are on physics. 50 are on geology, and 110 are on chemistry. If science books are removed randomly from the supply room, how many must be removed to ensure that 80 of the books removed are on the same science?
(A) 81
(B) 159
(C) 166
(D) 285
(E) 324
2. A certain shade of gray paint is obtained by mixing 3 parts of white paint with 5 parts of black paint. If 2 gallons of the mixture is needed and the individual colors can be purchased only in one-gallon or half- gallon cans, what is the least amount of paint, in gallons, that must be purchased in order to measure out the portions needed for the mixture?
(A) 2
(B) 2.5
(C) 3
(D) 3.5
(E) 4
3. A merchant paid $300 for a shipment of x identical calculators. The merchant used 2 of the calculators as demonstrators and sold each of the others for $5 more than the average (arithmetic mean) cost of the x calculators. If the total revenue from the sale of the calculators was $120 more than the cost of the shipment, how many calculators were in the shipment?
(A) 24
(B) 25
(C) 26
(D) 28
(E) 30
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by thankont » Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:36 am
we can remove
50B + 50G +65Z +79Ph + 79 Ch + 1 more (either Ph or Ch) =324 to be 100% sure that we picked 80 books from the same subject. (well one has to be very unlucky to actually pick 324 to do this!!!)

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#1 - you're right

by mermade » Tue Dec 26, 2006 10:04 am
#1 - you're right

how about the answers of the next two questions?

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by thankont » Tue Dec 26, 2006 10:41 pm
we need 2*3/8 = 3/4 white color and 2*5/8 = 10/8 = 1(1/4) black
so buy 1gallon for white and 1 and a half for black so 2.5 total

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Let c be the cost of each calculator when shipment was bought.
Let x be the number of calculators in the shipment

Of x calculators, only (x-2) were sold.

Setting up the equation:

(x-2) * (c+5) = 120 + 300

Since c = 300/x
300 - 2*300/x + 5x -10 = 120 + 300
-2*300/x + 5x = 130

In order to save time, substitute the answer value randomly. Start with E, it clicks. So the answer is 30 (E).

Is the answer correct ?