A company offers an allowance of $500 per day to its employees for an official outstation visit. Pristine went on a two-

[VJesus12]

A company offers an allowance of $500 per day to its employees for an official outstation visit. Pristine went on a two-day official trip to Singapore. She made all trip-related expenses out of the allowance offered by the company and fully exhausted the allowance by the end of her trip. During the trip, she spent not less than $350 and not more than $400 each day on expenses other than food. If she had only 2 meals each day and paid a 15% tax and 5% tip on the price of each meal, the average price of her meal, excluding the tax and the tip, must be between:

A. $30 and $55
B. $40 and $58
C. $41 and $63
D. $50 and $62
E. $50 and $75

Answer: C

Source: e-GMAT

[Scott@TargetTestPrep]

A company offers an allowance of $500 per day to its employees for an official outstation visit. Pristine went on a two-day official trip to Singapore. She made all trip-related expenses out of the allowance offered by the company and fully exhausted the allowance by the end of her trip. During the trip, she spent not less than $350 and not more than $400 each day on expenses other than food. If she had only 2 meals each day and paid a 15% tax and 5% tip on the price of each meal, the average price of her meal, excluding the tax and the tip, must be between:

A. $30 and $55
B. $40 and $58
C. $41 and $63
D. $50 and $62
E. $50 and $75

Answer: C

Solution:


If Pristine spent the least amount of $350 per day other than food, then she would have $150 left for food. Likewise, if she spent the most amount of $400 per day other than food, then she would have $100 left for food. Let x = the average price of each meal, excluding the tax and tip, we can create the inequality:

100 ≤ 2(x + 0.15x + 0.05x) ≤ 150

50 ≤ 1.2x ≤ 75

41.67 ≤ x ≤ 62.5

Answer: C