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GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:51 am

Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:51 am

GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:51 am

GmatKiss wrote:Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.

Let x = 5 pounds of candy.
Let d = 20 dollars per pound.
Cost = 5*20 = 100.
Let w = 2 pounds of candy eaten.
Number of pounds left = 5-2 = 3 pounds.
Let m = $10 per pound selling price.
Selling price to Jill = 3*10 = 30.
Amount spent by John = 100-30 = 70. This is our target.

Now we plug x=5, d=20, w=2 and m=10 into the answers to see which yields our target of 70.

Only answer choice C works:
xd -xm + wm = (5*20) - (5*10) + (2*10) = 70.

The correct answer is C.

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GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:14 am

GMATGuruNY wrote:
GmatKiss wrote:Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.
Let x = 5 pounds of candy.
Let d = 20 dollars per pound.
Cost = 5*20 = 100.
Let w = 2 pounds of candy eaten.
Number of pounds left = 5-2 = 3 pounds.
Let m = $10 per pound selling price.
Selling price to Jill = 3*10 = 30.
Amount spent by John = 100-30 = 70. This is our target.

Now we plug x=5, d=20, w=2 and m=10 into the answers to see which yields our target of 70.

Only answer choice C works:
xd -xm + wm = (5*20) - (5*10) + (2*10) = 70.

The correct answer is C.

Thanks a lot GMATGuru,
Is there any particular way of choosing numbers?
I do understand that x needs to be > w, and so on for this particluar problem. But in general, do you follow any specific rule for choosing numbers, to get to the answer faster.

TIA,
GK

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sunilrawat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 112; Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:20 am; Thanked: 5 times; GMAT Score:640

by sunilrawat » Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:49 am

GmatKiss wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
GmatKiss wrote:Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.
Let x = 5 pounds of candy.
Let d = 20 dollars per pound.
Cost = 5*20 = 100.
Let w = 2 pounds of candy eaten.
Number of pounds left = 5-2 = 3 pounds.
Let m = $10 per pound selling price.
Selling price to Jill = 3*10 = 30.
Amount spent by John = 100-30 = 70. This is our target.

Now we plug x=5, d=20, w=2 and m=10 into the answers to see which yields our target of 70.

Only answer choice C works:
xd -xm + wm = (5*20) - (5*10) + (2*10) = 70.

The correct answer is C.
Thanks a lot GMATGuru,
Is there any particular way of choosing numbers?
I do understand that x needs to be > w, and so on for this particluar problem. But in general, do you follow any specific rule for choosing numbers, to get to the answer faster.

TIA,
GK

Do we have to chose numbers for this one?
Jack spent xd on the candy and sold it for (x-w)m
So in total, Jack spent xd-(x-w)m, which is option C

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GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:43 am

sunilrawat wrote:
GmatKiss wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
GmatKiss wrote:Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.
Let x = 5 pounds of candy.
Let d = 20 dollars per pound.
Cost = 5*20 = 100.
Let w = 2 pounds of candy eaten.
Number of pounds left = 5-2 = 3 pounds.
Let m = $10 per pound selling price.
Selling price to Jill = 3*10 = 30.
Amount spent by John = 100-30 = 70. This is our target.

Now we plug x=5, d=20, w=2 and m=10 into the answers to see which yields our target of 70.

Only answer choice C works:
xd -xm + wm = (5*20) - (5*10) + (2*10) = 70.

The correct answer is C.
Thanks a lot GMATGuru,
Is there any particular way of choosing numbers?
I do understand that x needs to be > w, and so on for this particluar problem. But in general, do you follow any specific rule for choosing numbers, to get to the answer faster.

TIA,
GK
Do we have to chose numbers for this one?
Jack spent xd on the candy and sold it for (x-w)m
So in total, Jack spent xd-(x-w)m, which is option C

Hi,

This problem can be solved in n no.of ways, assigning no.s is one amongst them.

-GK

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nigina: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2017 12:06 am

answer

by nigina » Sat Dec 15, 2018 4:20 am

GMATGuruNY wrote:
GmatKiss wrote:Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.
Let x = 5 pounds of candy.
Let d = 20 dollars per pound.
Cost = 5*20 = 100.
Let w = 2 pounds of candy eaten.
Number of pounds left = 5-2 = 3 pounds.
Let m = $10 per pound selling price.
Selling price to Jill = 3*10 = 30.
Amount spent by John = 100-30 = 70. This is our target.

Now we plug x=5, d=20, w=2 and m=10 into the answers to see which yields our target of 70.

Only answer choice C works:
xd -xm + wm = (5*20) - (5*10) + (2*10) = 70.

The correct answer is C.

Hi Mitch,
I tried pluggin in numbers and it didn't work for me.
x=10
d=2
w=5
m=3
So, he purchased for 20$ (10*2), ate 5, sold 5*3=15. So he spent net 20-15=5, which is answer A. In C, I get 20$. Please explain what went wrong for me. Thanks!

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8152; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 amFollowed by: 29 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:53 am

GmatKiss wrote:Jack bought x pounds of candy at d dollars per pound. If he ate w pounds
of his candy and sold the rest to Jill for m dollars per pound, how much
money did Jack spend, in dollars, net of Jill's payment?

(A) xd- wm
(B) xm - wd
(C) xd -xm + wm
(D) xd+xm-xw
(E) 2xd-xm

Please let me know the procedure to solve this problem.

Jack spent dx dollars on candies before he sold some of them to Jill. Since he ate w pounds of candies, he had x - w pounds left, and since he sold them to Jill at m dollars per pound, he received m(x - w) = mx - mw dollars from Jill. Therefore, net of Jill's payment, he spent dx - (mx - mw) = dx - mx + mw dollars on candies.

Answer: C

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