If x/y = - 10, what percentage of x is x - 10y ?
(A) 10% (B) 200% (C) 50% (D) 100% (E) Cannot be determined
(A) 10% (B) 200% (C) 50% (D) 100% (E) Cannot be determined
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x = -10y.amarzouk wrote:If x/y = - 10 and x>0, what percentage of x is x - 10y ?
(A) 10% (B) 200% (C) 50% (D) 100% (E) Cannot be determined
Although it may specify that x is positive,it would not matter even if it were negative as -x/-x = +1 anyway.GMATGuruNY wrote:The GMAT would specify that x is positive:
x = -10y.amarzouk wrote:If x/y = - 10 and x>0, what percentage of x is x - 10y ?
(A) 10% (B) 200% (C) 50% (D) 100% (E) Cannot be determined
An alternate approach is to plug in values.
Since one of the answer choices is cannot be determined, test two cases to confirm that each case yields the same percentage.
Case 1: y=-1, x=10
Here, x - 10y = 10 - (10)(-1) = 20.
In this case, (x-10y)/x * 100 = 20/10 * 100 = 200%.
Case 2: y=-2, x=20
Here, x - 10y = 20 - (10)(-2) = 40.
In this case, (x-10y)/x * 100 = 40/20 * 100 = 200%.
In each case, the same percentage is yielded: 200%.
The correct answer is B.
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