Interest PS Question

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Interest PS Question

by dunnec3 » Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:35 am
Loan X has principal $10,000X and yearly simple rate of 4%. Loan Y has Principal $10,000y and yearly simple rate of 8%. Loans are consolidated to $(10,000x +10,000y) with yearly simple rate of r%. r = (4x+4y)/(x+y).

Find value for x and y corresponding to yearly simple interest rate of 5% for the consolidated loan.

Thanks in advance GMAT gurus!
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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Dec 04, 2015 5:41 am
This is an IR problem in GMATPrep.
When you post a problem, please include the answer choices.
Here is the complete problem:
Loan X has a principal of $10,000x and a yearly simple interest rate of 4%. Loan Y has a principal of $10,0000y and a yearly simple interest rate of 8%. Loans X and Y will be consolidated to form Loan Z with a principal of $[10,000x + 10,000y and a yearly simple interest rate of r%, where r = (4x +8y)/x+y. In the table, select a value for X and a value for Y corresponding to a yearly simple interest rate of 5% for the consolidated load. Make only two selections:

21
32
51
64
81
96
This is a MIXTURE problem.
A 4% loan (X) is being combined with an 8% loan (Y) to form a CONSOLIDATED loan of 5%.
To solve, we can use ALLIGATION -- a very efficient way to handle MIXTURE PROBLEMS.

Step 1: Plot the 3 percentages on a number line, with the percentages for X and Y (4% and 8%) on the ends and the percentage for the mixture (5%) in the middle.
X 4%-----------5%-----------8% Y

Step 2: Calculate the distances between the percentages.
X 4%-----1-----5%-----3-----8% Y

Step 3: Determine the ratio in the mixture.
The required ratio of X to Y is the RECIPROCAL of the distances in red.
X:Y = 3:1.

Only X=96 and Y=32 yield the required ratio of 3:1.

For two similar problems, check here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ratios-fract ... 15365.html
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by regor60 » Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:03 am
Alternatively, one can just set the expression for r given in the problem equal to 5 and solve for X in terms of Y, which gives the 3 to 1 ratio, and select the only pair that satisfies