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Tables and chairs

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Tables and chairs

by abhirup1711 » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:43 pm
Company Z only sells chairs and tables. what percent of its revenue in 2008 did company derive from its sales of tables?
1. In 2008, the average price of tables sold by company Z was 10% higher than the average price of chairs sold by Company Z?
2. In 2008, Company Z sold 20% fewer tables than chairs.
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by [email protected] » Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:12 am
This DS question is layered, but offers an interesting shortcut in that it's not asking for the specific price or number of tables and chairs; it's asking for "what percent of its revenue" was from the sale of tables. This means that you have more than one way to answer the question: either with real values or with ratios.

We'll need info about total revenue and total table revenue to answer this question:

(Total Revenue from tables)/(Total Revenue from tables and chairs) = ?

Fact 1 compares the average price of tables to the average price of chairs, but it DOESN'T tell us about total revenue. Mathematically, we'd have:

Table Price = 1.1(Chair Price)

We still don't know how many tables and chairs were sold though. Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT.

Fact 2 tells us that 20% fewer tables were sold than chairs. Mathematically, we'd have:

Number of Tables = .8(Number of chairs)

We don't know the price of the tables or chairs. Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT.

Now, at this point, IF YOU'RE STUCK, then you can take a GUESS. The answer has to be C or E. If you're going to waste time staring at the question, then you'd be better off guessing and moving on. Your time is too valuable to spend over 3 minutes on one Quant question.

Combining facts, we'd have this:

Tprice = 1.1Cprice
Tnumber = .8Cnumber

Table Revenue = (Tnumber)(Tprice)
Total Revenue = (Tnumber)(Tprice) + (Cnumber)(Cprice)

Now, substitute in values of the "chair" info:

Total Revenue = (Tnumber)(Tprice) + (Tnumber/.8)(Tprice/1.1)

Solving for Table Revenue/Total Revenue, all the variables would cancel out and you'd have:

.88/1.88

Don't bother calculating this though. It's enough to give you the only possible answer.

Final Answer: C (Together Sufficient)

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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Jul 07, 2013 12:55 pm
abhirup1711 wrote:Company Z only sells chairs and tables. what percent of its revenue in 2008 did company derive from its sales of tables?
1. In 2008, the average price of tables sold by company Z was 10% higher than the average price of chairs sold by Company Z?
2. In 2008, Company Z sold 20% fewer tables than chairs.
Statement 1: In 2008, the average price of tables sold by Company Z was 10% higher than the average price of chairs sold by company.
No information about the ratio of the number of tables sold to the number of chairs sold.
INSUFFICIENT.

Statement 2: In 2008, Company Z sold 20% fewer tables then chairs:
No information about the ratio of the selling price of the tables to the selling price of the chairs.
INSUFFICIENT.

Statements 1 and 2 combined:
Plug in two different combinations that satisfy both statements.
If (table revenue)/(total revenue) is the same in each case, then the two statements combined are sufficient.
If (table revenue)/(total revenue) changes, then the two statements combined are insufficient.

Case 1:
Chair price = 10, table price = 11.
Number of chairs sold = 10, number of tables sold = 8.
Table revenue/total revenue = (11*8)/(10*10 + 11*8) = 88/188.

Case 2:
Chair price = 20, table price = 22.
Number of chairs sold = 100, number of tables sold = 80.
Table revenue/total revenue = (22*80)/(20*100 + 22*80) =176/376 = 88/188.

Since the ratio in each case is the same, the two statements combined are SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is C.
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