BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Last year the range of the annual salaries of the 100 employees at Company X was $30,000. If the annual salary of each of the 100 employees this year is 10 percent greater than it was last year, what is the range of the annual salaries of the 100 employees this year?
(A) $27,000
(B) $30,000
(C) $33,000
(D) $36,000
(E) $63,000
OA C
Source: GMAT Prep
A
quick solution is to assign some values to the highest paid and lowest paid workers
Let $10,000 = the lowest salary LAST YEAR
Let $40,000 = the highest salary LAST YEAR
This satisfies the condition that the range LAST YEAR = $30,000
If the annual salary of each of the 100 employees this year is 10 percent greater than it was last year, . . .
(1.1)($10,000) =$11,000, so the lowest salary is NOW
$11,000
(1.1)($40,000) =$44,000, so the lowest salary is NOW
$44,000
. . . what is the range of the annual salaries of the 100 employees this year?
Range =
$44,000 -
$11,000 =
$33,000
Answer: C
A
faster solution is to recognize that if EACH PERSON gets a 10% increase, then the range will increase by 10%
So, the $30,000 range increases by 10% to $33,000
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
