Sak Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 A merchant paid $300 for a shipment of x identical calculators. The merchant used 2 of the calculators as demonstrators and sold each of the others for $5 more than the average (arithmetic mean) cost of the x calculators. If the total revenue from the sale of the calculators was $120 more than the cost of the shipment, how many calculators were in the shipment Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sak Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 PS: I take the GMAT on April 15...in case that would get one a speedier solution :) does it go like=> 420=(x-2)(avg price+5) what is the average price??(cant be 300/x can it ? 300 is the shipment charge after all :() Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsme_sanket Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 oh tough question I have tried to solve it ...but i am not sure $300 = S.C total items = x (x-2) = total items sold now , C.P of each = T.P (total cost price) ------- X S.P of each = (T.P/x + 5)........ Revenue = S.p - C.p = (x-2) * ((tp/x + 5) - tp/x) = 5*x - 10 = 420 (300 + 120) so we get = 82........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sak Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 sorry but the answer choices are : (A) 24 (B) 25 © 26 (D) 28 (E) 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asnrk23 Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 HI Initially if we consider cost of 1 caluclator it will be C = 300/x Later the merchant sold x-2 caluclators at a cost of (300/x) + 5 which implies that Selling price of 1 caculator is S = [(300/x) + 5]. He sold x-2 calculators at a profit of 120 => (x-2)*S = 420 which means (300/x +5 )*(x-2)= 420 => x=30 He initially bought 30 calculators, at a cost of 10$ each and sold 28 calculators at 15$, from which he made a profit of 120$. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sak Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 OK....the confusing bit is that should we take the shipment cost as the cost price? I thought it referred to the shipment charges. Thanks !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsme_sanket Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 i also thought the same....but can we take shipping price as cost price.... I do not think so ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asnrk23 Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 The problem says that the merchant paid 300$ for shipment of x calculators which implies that the total cost price of x calculators is 300 (which is shipment cost + the actual cost of calculator). From Merhcant's perspective, the total Cost price of x calculators will still be 300. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praso Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 i guess so too. i arrived at 30 with the same assumption Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjd00d Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 30 it is but i disagree with asnrk23, the statement nowhere implies that the shipment cost is the total cost. Given that GMAT Qs never throw curve ball at you, i am surprised to see this question coz it doesn't make sense in real life as well. Agree that we have to go with that assumption and solve the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asnrk23 Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 30 it is but i disagree with asnrk23, the statement nowhere implies that the shipment cost is the total cost. Given that GMAT Qs never throw curve ball at you, i am surprised to see this question coz it doesn't make sense in real life as well. Agree that we have to go with that assumption and solve the problem. I too agree that question no where says that shipment cost is the total cost but it does say that merchant paid 300 for shipment of x calculators which does imply that it is the total cost unless and until specified exclusively that it is just the shipment cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bose Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 imo 30 got it from (300/x +5 )*(x-2)= 420 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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