Mark bought a set of 6 flower pots of different sizes at a

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BTGmoderatorLU: Moderator; Posts: 2505; Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:50 pm; Followed by:6 members

Mark bought a set of 6 flower pots of different sizes at a

by BTGmoderatorLU » Fri May 11, 2018 1:55 pm

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Mark bought a set of 6 flower pots of different sizes at a total cost of $8.25. Each pot cost 0.25 more than the next one below it in size. What was the cost, in dollars, of the largest pot?

A. $1.75
B. $1.85
C. $2.00
D. $2.15
E. $2.30

The OA is C.

I solve this question as follows,

x denotes the price of the largest pot

x + (x - 0.25) + (x-2*0.25) + ...... (x -5*0.25) = 8.25
6x - 0.25*(1 +2.+3+4+5) = 8.25
6x -3.75 = 8.25
6x = 12
x = 2

Hence, C is corect answer.

Please, can anyone explain another way to solve this PS question? Thanks in advance!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Fri May 11, 2018 1:55 pm

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; Followed by:511 members; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Fri May 11, 2018 3:29 pm

Hi All,

We're told that a set of 6 flower pots of DIFFERENT sizes cost a total cost of $8.25 and that each pot cost 0.25 more than the next one below it in size. We're asked for the cost, in dollars, of the largest pot. Although it's not specifically stated, we're meant to assume that we're dealing with 6 pot sizes "in a row." This question can be solved by TESTing VALUES.

To start, since the TOTAL cost ends in 25 cents - and the difference in prices is also 25 cents - the price of each type of pot is almost certainly some multiple of 25 cents (so it's unlikely that the correct answer is B or D). Let's TEST Answer C first...

Answer C: $2.00

IF... the largest post = $2, then the prices of the other pots are...
$1.75, $1.50, $1.25, $1.00 and $0.75

While adding up those 6 prices might seem tedious, we can 'bunch' the values into groups of 2.... $2 + $0.75 = $2.75, $1.75 + $1.00 = $2.75 and $1.50 + $1.25 = $2.75
Thus, the total = (3)($2.75) = $8.25
This is an exact match for what we were told, so this must be the answer.

Final Answer: C

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8086; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times; Followed by:29 members

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Tue May 07, 2019 5:39 pm

BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Mark bought a set of 6 flower pots of different sizes at a total cost of $8.25. Each pot cost 0.25 more than the next one below it in size. What was the cost, in dollars, of the largest pot?

A. $1.75
B. $1.85
C. $2.00
D. $2.15
E. $2.30

We can let the cost of the largest (or most expensive) pot be n and create the equation:

n + (n - 0.25) + (n - 0.5) + (n - 0.75) + (n - 1) + (n - 1.25) = 8.25

6n - 3.75 = 8.25

6n = 12

n = 2

Answer: C

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]