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What's wrong with the Question? Motel Rooms

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by Xeb » Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:31 am
On a Saturday night, each of the rooms at a certain motel was rented for either $40 or $60. If 10 of the rooms that were rented for $60 had instead been rented for $40, then the total rent the motel charged for that night would have been reduced by 25 percent. What was the total rent the motel actually charged for that night?

(A) $600
(B) $800
(C) $1,000
(D) $1,600
(E) $2,400

A PS question I found. It seems to be a tricky question or is it wrong?
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by shankar.ashwin » Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:37 am
25% of rent = 10(60-40) (10 rooms and diff between rents)
= 200

Rent = 800
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:45 am
Xeb wrote:On a Saturday night, each of the rooms at a certain motel was rented for either $40 or $60. If 10 of the rooms that were rented for $60 had instead been rented for $40, then the total rent the motel charged for that night would have been reduced by 25 percent. What was the total rent the motel actually charged for that night?

(A) $600
(B) $800
(C) $1,000
(D) $1,600
(E) $2,400

A PS question I found. It seems to be a tricky question or is it wrong?
If 10 of the rooms had been rented for $40 instead of for $60, the hotel would have received $20 less per room.
Decrease in revenue = 10*20 = $200.
Thus, $200 must be 25% of the total rent charged.
Looking at the answer choices, we can see that 200 is 25% of answer choice B:
.25*800 = 200.

The correct answer is B.
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