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100 points for $49 worth of Veritas practice GMATs FREE VERITAS PRACTICE GMAT EXAMS Earn 10 Points Per Post Earn 10 Points Per Thanks Earn 10 Points Per Upvote ## The cost per pound of tea and coffee were the same in June. tagged by: swerve ##### This topic has 2 expert replies and 0 member replies ### Top Member ## The cost per pound of tea and coffee were the same in June. The cost per pound of tea and coffee were the same in June. In July, the price of coffee shot up by 200% and that of tea dropped by 90%. If in July, a mixture containing equal quantities of tea and coffee costs$4.65 for 3lbs, how much did a pound of tea cost in July?

A. $4 B.$0.1
C. $1 D.$3
E. $1.65 The OA is B. Price of tea in June = price of coffee in June =$x.

Price of tea in July = 0.1x (decrease by 90%).
Price of coffee in July = 3x (increase by 200%).

I stuck here. Please, can any expert explain this PS question for me? I tried to solve it but I can't get the correct answer. I need your help. Thanks.

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swerve wrote:
The cost per pound of tea and coffee were the same in June. In July, the price of coffee shot up by 200% and that of tea dropped by 90%. If in July, a mixture containing equal quantities of tea and coffee costs $4.65 for 3lbs, how much did a pound of tea cost in July? A.$4
B. $0.1 C.$1
D. $3 E.$1.65
Let's continue where you left off:

Let x = price (PER POUND) of tea in JUNE
So, Let x = price (PER POUND) of coffee in JUNE

Price of tea (PER POUND) in JULY = 0.1x (decrease by 90%).
Price of coffee (PER POUND) in JULY = 3x (increase by 200%).

In July, a mixture containing equal quantities of tea and coffee costs $4.65 for 3 lbs So, the mixture has 1.5 lbs of tea and 1.5 lbs of coffee We can write: (cost of 1.5 lbs of tea) + (cost of 1.5 lbs of coffee) =$4.65
So: (1.5)(0.1x) + (1.5)(3x) = 4.65
Factor: 1.5(0.1x + 3x) = 4.65
Divide both sides by 1.5 to get: 0.1x + 3x = 3.1
Simplify: 3.1x = 3.1
So, x = 1
In other words, in JUNE the price of tea and coffee were each $1 per pound. Since the price of tea in JULY = 0.1x, the price of tea = (0.1)(1) =$0.1 per pound

Cheers,
Brent

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swerve wrote:
The cost per pound of tea and coffee were the same in June. In July, the price of coffee shot up by 200% and that of tea dropped by 90%. If in July, a mixture containing equal quantities of tea and coffee costs $4.65 for 3lbs, how much did a pound of tea cost in July? A.$4
B. $0.1 C.$1
D. $3 E.$1.65
We can let x = the cost per pound of tea (or coffee) in June. Thus the cost of tea in July = 0.1x and the cost of coffee in July = 3x. (Note that a price increase of 200% is a tripling of the price.) Since the price of a mixture of equal quantities of tea and coffee is $4.65 for 3 lbs, there must be 1.5 lbs of tea and 1.5 lbs of coffee. We can create the following equation: 1.5(0.1x) + 1.5(3x) = 4.65 0.15x + 4.5x = 4.65 4.65x = 4.65 x = 1 Thus, the cost of a pound of tea in July is 0.1(1) =$0.1.

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