DS problem

[prernamalhotra]

Please help with the below problem:

The attached table shows the cancellation fee schedule that a travel agency uses to determine the fee charged to a tourist who cancels a trip prior to departure. If a tourist cancelled a trip with package of $1,700 and a departure date of Sept 4, on what day was the trip cancelled?

1) The cancellation fee was $595
2) If the trip had been cancelled a day later, the cancellation fee would have been $ 255 more.

Thank you,
Prerna

[prernamalhotra]

Sorry forgot the attachment

[GMATGuruNY]

The attached table shows the cancellation fee schedule that a travel agency uses to determine the fee charged to a tourist who cancels a trip prior to departure. If a tourist cancelled a trip with package of $1,700 and a departure date of Sept 4, on what day was the trip cancelled?

1) The cancellation fee was $595
2) If the trip had been cancelled a day later, the cancellation fee would have been $ 255 more.

Thank you,
Prerna

Statement 1:
Since a fee of $595 was assessed on a $1700 package, the cancellation percentage = 595/1700 * 100 = 35%.
According to the table, the cancellation fee is 35% if the trip is cancelled 31-45 days prior to departure.
No way to determine the exact day on which the trip was cancelled.
INSUFFICIENT.

Statement 2:
Since an increase of $255 is assessed on a $1700 package, the percent increase in the fee = 255/1700 * 100 = 15%.

Case 1: The trip was cancelled 31 days prior to departure
According to the table, if the trip is cancelled 1 day later -- in other words, 30 days prior to departure -- the fee increases from 35% to 50%.
Case 2: The trip was cancelled 16 days prior to departure
According to the table, if the trip is cancelled 1 day later -- in other words, 15 days prior to departure -- the fee increases from 50% to 65%.

Either case will yield a 15% increase in the fee.
Since it's possible that the trip was cancelled either 31 days prior to departure or 16 days prior to departure, INSUFFICIENT.

Statements combined:
Only Case 1 satisfies the departure range required by Statement 1 (31-45 days prior to departure).
Thus, the trip was cancelled 31 days prior to the September 4 departure date.
SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is C.

[[email protected]]

Hi Prerna,

Mitch has properly explained this DS question and the math behind it, so I won't rehash it here. Instead, I'll offer some tips about Quant questions that are built around a chart, graph or table.

First, chart/graph/table questions are relatively rare in the Quant section - you'll probably see just 1. However, they're usually designed to take longer than average to solve, so when you see one, you have to realize that you're going to spend some extra time/effort to solve it.

Second, the chart/graph/table will almost always have some mini pattern in it for you to find or deduction for you to make before you read the text beneath it. Here, the mini pattern was in the percentage difference from level-to-level: 25%, 15%, 15%, 35%. It's interesting that the two "changes" are BOTH 15%...that was done, on purpose, by whoever wrote this question. These details are never a coincidence; they're an essential part of solving the problem.

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