the hammer rises

[sanju09]

A screwdriver and hammer currently have the same price. If the price of the screwdriver rises by 5 percent and that of the hammer rises by 3 percent, how much more as percent will it cost to buy 3 screwdrivers and 3 hammers?
(A) 3
(B) 3.5
(C) 4
(D) 4.5
(E) 5

[The Jock]

Is it C = 4%

[abhishilpi]

The answer should be C.
{3(1.05x+1.03x)/3(x+x)}-1={2.08/2}-1=1.04-1=0.04=4%

[GMATGuruNY]

A screwdriver and hammer currently have the same price. If the price of the screwdriver rises by 5 percent and that of the hammer rises by 3 percent, how much more as percent will it cost to buy 3 screwdrivers and 3 hammers?
(A) 3
(B) 3.5
(C) 4
(D) 4.5
(E) 5

Since we're buying the same number of each, we can simply figure out how much the total price will increase if we buy 1 hammer and 1 screwdriver; the increase in percentage will be the same.

The original price is not specified, so we can just plug in our own number:

s = 50, h = 50, total = 50 + 50 =100
new s = 50 + .05(50) = 50 + 2.50 = 52.50
new h = 50 + .03(50) = 50 + 1.50 = 51.50.
new total = 52.50 + 51.50 = 104

old total to new total = 100 to 104, an increase of 4%.

The correct answer is C.

[Stuart@KaplanGMAT]

A screwdriver and hammer currently have the same price. If the price of the screwdriver rises by 5 percent and that of the hammer rises by 3 percent, how much more as percent will it cost to buy 3 screwdrivers and 3 hammers?
(A) 3
(B) 3.5
(C) 4
(D) 4.5
(E) 5

We can also answer this question with weighted averages, which is simple in this case since each item has the same weight.

Since we're buying an equal number of hammers and screwdrivers, each one has .5 weight in our average. So:

.5(3%) + .5(5%) = 1.5% + 2.5% = 4%... choose (C).

[pradeepkaushal9518]

my approach is very simple take price of screwdriver and hammer as 100

screwdriver 5% increase means 105 like wise hammer 103

3 screwdirver cost 315 and 3 hammer will cost 309 so total 624

with original price 300 and 300 = 600

so 24*100/600= 4 %

stuart

i think u should ban sanju09 for posting simple questions those i can also solve.

[outreach]

each screwdriver- x
each hammer - x

originally
3 screwdrivers and 3 hammers=6x

new price
each screwdriver- 1.05x
each hammer - 1.03y
3 screwdrivers and 3 hammers=3.15x+3.09x=6.24x


6 is 100%
6.24 is ?%
answer C