profit and loss question

Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:

hemant_rajput wrote:Q26. Divya goes to buy fruits and after a lot of bargaining is able to get the price of dozen apples reduced by 1 from the initial price, thereby enabling her to get 1 apple extra for ever Rupee saved(Getting no discount on the extra apple). What is the initial price of a dozen apples?
a. 10
b. 13
c. 12
d. 15
[spoiler]
oa:d[/spoiler]

So, there's no discount on any extra apples.
And, she can buy 1 extra apple for every 1 Rupee saved.
This tells me that each extra apple costs 1 Rupee (when there's no discount)

So, the initial price of 12 apples (before any discounts) must have been 12 Rupee.
Answer = C

In other words, the original price of the dozen apples was 12 Rupee. She bargained and got the price reduced by 1 Rupee (so the reduced price for the 12 apples was 11 Rupee). She then used this 1 Rupee to buy 1 extra apple.

Not sure how D is the official answer. Have I read/interpreted the question incorrectly?

Cheers,
Brent

Great, I was thinking I'm doing it incorrectly. I think the answer published in the book is wrong.
Please correct me if anyone has different understanding of the problem.

was kinda confused at first... could not finish the question in the 2-minute mark... however finally came up with a suitable equation...

price= "p"
real cost= 12 apples * "price p" = 12p
discounted cost= 12 apples * (p-1) = 12(p-1)

so,
=> real cost - discounted cost = an extra apple at price "p"
=> 12p - 12(p-1) = p
=> 12p - 12p + 12 = p
Therefore, p = 12.

is this okay ? to be honest i couldnt find the equation on the 1st try so i just tried the answer with all the given options... meaning i had input every option once to see if it works... is this what i should do everytime i get confused on making a proper equation in between the first 30 seconds just try out all the options?? please suggest...

Fazze wrote:was kinda confused at first... could not finish the question in the 2-minute mark... however finally came up with a suitable equation...

price= "p"
real cost= 12 apples * "price p" = 12p
discounted cost= 12 apples * (p-1) = 12(p-1)

so,
=> real cost - discounted cost = an extra apple at price "p"
=> 12p - 12(p-1) = p
=> 12p - 12p + 12 = p
Therefore, p = 12.

is this okay ? to be honest i couldnt find the equation on the 1st try so i just tried the answer with all the given options... meaning i had input every option once to see if it works... is this what i should do everytime i get confused on making a proper equation in between the first 30 seconds just try out all the options?? please suggest...

Hi Fazze..I didn't understand your approach..
you considered price per apple as p
last equation suggests that p=12
and as per my understanding the original cost(without discount) of the dozen apples must cost
12p= 12 * 12
and also according to the below equation of yours
discounted cost= 12 apples * (p-1) = 12(p-1)
doesn't this imply 12p-12 which implies it was Rs 12 , which was discounted from the dozen apple's price.
am I missing some point any where or is there any flaw in your approach..

Thank you,
Vivek.