Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for same amount of money?
1) 1 pound of pears cost 50 cents more that 1 pound of apples
2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples
An easy approach is to plug in values.
Statement 1: 1 pound of pears cost 50 cents more that 1 pound of apples.
Let apples = $1 per pound, pears = $1.50 per pound.
Cost of 5 pounds of apples = 5*1 = 5.
Number of pears that can be bought for $5 = 5/1.5 = 10/3.
Let apples = $2 per pound, pears = $2.50 per pound.
Cost of 5 pounds of apples = 5*2 = 10.
Number of pears that can be bought for $10 = 10/2.5 = 4.
Since the number of pears is 10/3 in the first case and 4 in the second case, insufficient.
Statement 2: 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples.
Let apples = $1 per pound, pears = (1.5)*1 = $1.50 per pound.
Cost of 5 pounds of apples = 5*1 = 5.
Number of pears that can be bought for $5 = 5/1.5 = 10/3.
Let apples = $2 per pound, pears = (1.5)*2 = $3 per pound.
Cost of 5 pounds of apples = 5*2 = 10.
Number of pears that can be bought for $10 = 10/3.
Since in each case the number of pears is 10/3, sufficient.
The correct answer is
B.
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