The main ingredient in a certain prescription drug capsule

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

The main ingredient in a certain prescription drug capsule

by BTGmoderatorLU » Sat Dec 15, 2018 1:37 pm

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Source: GMAT Prep

The main ingredient in a certain prescription drug capsule cost $500 per kilogram. If each capsule contains 600 milligrams of ingredient, what is the cost of the ingredient in a capsule? (1 kilogram = 10^6 milligrams)

A. $0.30
B. $0.83
C. $1.20
D. $3.00
E. $3.33

The OA is A.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Sat Dec 15, 2018 1:37 pm

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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Dec 15, 2018 3:49 pm

BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: GMAT Prep

The main ingredient in a certain prescription drug capsule cost $500 per kilogram. If each capsule contains 600 milligrams of ingredient, what is the cost of the ingredient in a capsule? (1 kilogram = 10^6 milligrams)

A. $0.30
B. $0.83
C. $1.20
D. $3.00
E. $3.33.

Each capsule contains 600 milligrams of ingredient.
10â�¶ milligrams = 1 kilogram.
1 kilogram of ingredient = 500 dollars.

To determine the cost per capsule, we must use the relationships above to convert 600 milligrams into dollars:
(600 milligrams) * (1 kilogram)/(10â�¶ milligrams) * (500 dollars)/(1 kilogram) = (600*500)/10â�¶ = 300000/1000000 = 0.3.

The correct answer is A.

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by [email protected] » Sat Dec 15, 2018 4:57 pm

Hi All,

We're told that the main ingredient in a certain prescription drug capsule cost $500 per kilogram. If each capsule contains 600 milligrams of ingredient, what is the cost of the ingredient in a capsule? (1 kilogram = 10^6 milligrams). This is a 'unit conversion' question and comes down to basic Arithmetic. You can do the math in a number of different ways - and if you're concerned about manipulating "big numbers", then you can do several 'smaller decimal shifts' instead.

Since $500 = 1 kilogram = 1,000,000 milligrams
$500 = 1,000,000 milligrams
$50 = 100,000 milligrams
$5 = 10,000 milligrams
$0.50 = 1,000 milligrams

We're asked what 600 milligrams of the drug would cost. Since 600 is less than 1,000 we know that we'll spend LESS than $0.50 on the drug. There's only one answer that fits...

Final Answer: A

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

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:52 am

BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: GMAT Prep

The main ingredient in a certain prescription drug capsule cost $500 per kilogram. If each capsule contains 600 milligrams of ingredient, what is the cost of the ingredient in a capsule? (1 kilogram = 10^6 milligrams)

A. $0.30
B. $0.83
C. $1.20
D. $3.00
E. $3.33

The OA is A.

We can use a proportion to solve this problem. Letting x be the cost, in dollars, per 600-mg capsule, we have:

$500/1 kg = $x/600 mg

Before we can cross multiply, we need the denominators to have the same units. Since we are given 1 kg = 10^6 mg, we have:

$500/10^6 mg = x/600 mg

500/10^6 = x/600

(10^6)(x) = 500(600)

1,000,000(x) = 300,000

10x = 3

x = 0.3

Thus, the cost is $0.30 per capsule.

Answer: A

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