Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for the same amount of money?

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GMAT Prep

Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for the same amount of money?

1) 1 pound of pears cost $0.5 more than 1 pound of apples
2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples

OA B

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

GMAT Prep

Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of pears could he have bought for the same amount of money?

1) 1 pound of pears cost $0.5 more than 1 pound of apples
2) 1 pound of pears cost 1.5 times as much as 1 pound of apples

OA B

Given: Pat bought 5 pounds of apples.

Target question: How many pounds of pears could Pat have bought for the same amount of money?
This is a good candidate for rephrasing the target question.

Let A = the price per pound of apples
Let P = the price per pound of pears
If Pat bought 5 pounds of apples, then 5A = the total amount that Pat spent
Pat then wants to spend her 5A dollars on pears
So, 5A/P = the number of pounds of pears Pat can buy with the 5A dollars
REPHRASED target question: What is the value of 5A/P?

Aside: Below, you'll find a video with tips on rephrasing the target question

Statement 1: One pound of pears costs 0.50$ more than one pound of apples.
In other words, P = A + 0.5
Does this help us determine the value of 5A/P?
No.
Take 5A/P and replace P with A + 0.5 to get: 5A/P = 5A/(A + 0.5)
Since there's no way to determine the value of 5A/(A + 0.5) (aka 5A/P), we cannot answer the REPHRASED target question with certainty.
So, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: One pound of pears costs 3/2 times as much as one pound of apples.
In other words, P = (3/2)A or we can write P = 1.5A
Does this help us determine the value of 5A/P?
Yes!!
Take 5A/P and replace P with 1.5A to get: 5A/P = 5A/1.5A = 5/1.5 = 3 1/3
Since we can answer the REPHRASED target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT

Answer: B

Cheers,
Brent