At a certain company, operating expenses are measured as the sum of payroll expenses and infrastructure spending. During

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At a certain company, operating expenses are measured as the sum of payroll expenses and infrastructure spending. During the last fiscal year, payroll expenses increased by 5 percent and infrastructure spending increased by 1 percent. If overall operating expenses increased by 2 percent during the fiscal year, then payroll expenses represented what percent of operating expenses at the beginning of the fiscal year?

A. 20%
B. 25%
C. 33%
D. 40%
E. 50%


OA B

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BTGmoderatorDC wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 12:54 am
At a certain company, operating expenses are measured as the sum of payroll expenses and infrastructure spending. During the last fiscal year, payroll expenses increased by 5 percent and infrastructure spending increased by 1 percent. If overall operating expenses increased by 2 percent during the fiscal year, then payroll expenses represented what percent of operating expenses at the beginning of the fiscal year?

A. 20%
B. 25%
C. 33%
D. 40%
E. 50%


OA B

Source: Veritas Prep
Solution:

We can let the payroll expenses at the beginning of the year = p and the infrastructure spending at the beginning of the year = f.

We are given that payroll expenses increased by 5% and infrastructure spending increased 1%, causing an overall increase of 2%. Thus:

1.05p + 1.01f = 1.02(p + f)

105p + 101f = 102p + 102f

3p = f

Since operating expenses are represented by p + f, we have:

p/(p + f) = p/(p + 3p) = p/4p = 1/4 = 25%

Answer: B

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