Find all School-related info fast with the new School-Specific MBA Forum

 It is currently 28 Jun 2016, 19:58

GMAT Club Daily Prep

Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Events & Promotions

Events & Promotions in June
Open Detailed Calendar

A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25

Author Message
Intern
Joined: 30 May 2005
Posts: 18
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 0 [0], given: 0

A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25 [#permalink]

Show Tags

12 Jul 2007, 19:51
This topic is locked. If you want to discuss this question please re-post it in the respective forum.

A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25 percent decided to reduce the number of hours worked per week so that the employee's total weekly income would remain unchanged. By what percent should the number of hours worked be reduced?

A) 12.5%
B) 20%
C) 25%
D) 50%
E) 75%
Manager
Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 174
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 6 [0], given: 0

Show Tags

12 Jul 2007, 20:12

This is probably not the best way to do the problem but I just plug in variables.

If the employee's wage is initially $4/hr then a 25% increase means his wage is now$5/hr.

If he is working 20 hours/week then initially he made $80/week. 4x=80. So x=20. Now, 5x=80 so x=16. % decrease=20/16=1.25, or C, 25%. Director Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 532 Followers: 2 Kudos [?]: 80 [0], given: 1 Re: Parts of Numbers Q5 [#permalink] Show Tags 12 Jul 2007, 20:55 700dreamer wrote: A part-time employee whose hourly wage was increased by 25 percent decided to reduce the number of hours worked per week so that the employee's total weekly income would remain unchanged. By what percent should the number of hours worked be reduced? A) 12.5% B) 20% C) 25% D) 50% E) 75% why not B? h(w) = hw (5/4h)(4/5w) = hw ... 80% decrease in working hours Manager Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 55 Followers: 0 Kudos [?]: 3 [0], given: 0 [#permalink] Show Tags 12 Jul 2007, 21:11 The answer is B! I agree with ggarr I tried this using various numbers,$8 & $10,$9 and $11.25, etc. Then I used a variety of different hours/week. If you figure$8 before raise at 30 hrs/wk=$240/wk Then take the weekly wage$240 and divide it by the new hourly wage ($8*1.25=$10) and you have
240/10=24
Then use the comparison
24/30=.8, then 1-.8=.2= 20% reduce in workload.
I think it's B

Using briks123's example, you have to remember it's a decrease in workload, not an increase, so you take 16/20=.8, and subtract that from 1 to give you .2 or 20%, not 20/16. (BTW 20/16 gives you how much she would have to increase her workload to maintain the same income level after a cut in pay), but you were on the right track!

However, if anyone knows a way to figure this out using a special rule, please let me know! I need to work on speed and pacing, so I know I won't have time to plug in experimental numbers during the real GMAT!
Manager
Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 174
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 6 [0], given: 0

Show Tags

12 Jul 2007, 21:27
TRUE! Silly me. Too much math.

Anyways, without using experimental numbers, you could solve it this way:

The employee's income is initially i=$x/hr. With the increase, his income is i=$1.25x/hr. So letting h1=the number of hours worked before the increase and h2=the number of hours worked after the increase, we get xh1=i and 1.25xh2=i.

h1=i/x
h2=i/1.25x

So h2/h1=x/1.25x=4/5. So the decrease is 1-4/5=1/5.

Manager
Joined: 25 Nov 2006
Posts: 59
Followers: 2

Kudos [?]: 2 [0], given: 0

Show Tags

12 Jul 2007, 22:49
It is B ........
Let the person works for 100 days and earns 100 per hour.......
then the over all salary per 100 days is 100*100=10000.

Now,the income per hour increases by 25%.therefore the income becomes 125 per hour.Now he reduces the number of working hours do let that be X then the over all income should not change..therefore 10000/125=80.
therefore the number of days reduces by 20%..........
Display posts from previous: Sort by