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# At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in

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Manager
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At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in [#permalink]  24 Oct 2009, 03:39
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At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store $0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month? (1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for$ 0.80 each.
(2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was $180. [Reveal] Spoiler: OA Last edited by Bunuel on 22 Jun 2013, 07:41, edited 3 times in total. OA added Math Expert Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 27121 Followers: 4185 Kudos [?]: 40475 [1] , given: 5540 At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in [#permalink] 24 Oct 2009, 09:03 1 This post received KUDOS Expert's post At the biginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store$0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month?

GMAT likes tricks.

We are asked to determine the cost of goods in the end of the month.

(1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for $0.80 each --> cost of goods at the beginning of the month=0.75*250, plus 150*0.8 store purchased during the month, BUT as long as we don't know how many pads store sold last month we cannot determine the number of pads left at the end of the month. Not sufficient. (2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was$180. Well this is clearly insufficient. Was any number purchased during the month? What was the selling price of a pad? Not sufficient.

(1)+(2) We know how many and at what price was purchased during the month, plus we are told the revenue was 180, but we don't know the selling price of one pad, thus cannot determine how many was sold and how many left.

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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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Schools: ISB '15
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Bunuel wrote:
At the biginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store $0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month? GMAT likes tricks. We are asked to determine the cost of goods in the end of the month. (1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for$ 0.80 each --> cost of goods at the beginning of the month=0.75*250, plus 150*0.8 store purchased during the month, BUT as long as we don't know how many pads store sold last month we can not determine the number of pads left at the end of the month. Not sufficient.

(2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was $180. Well this is clearly insufficient. Was any number purchased during the month? What was the selling price of a pad? Not sufficient. (1)+(2) We know how many and at what price was purchased during the month, plus we are told the revenue was 180, but we don't know the selling price of one pad, thus can not determine how many was sold and how many left. Answer: E. Is it necessary that a sale was made last month ? Math Expert Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 27121 Followers: 4185 Kudos [?]: 40475 [0], given: 5540 Re: Writing Pads [#permalink] 12 Sep 2013, 07:38 Expert's post ygdrasil24 wrote: Bunuel wrote: At the biginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store$0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month?

GMAT likes tricks.

We are asked to determine the cost of goods in the end of the month.

(1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for $0.80 each --> cost of goods at the beginning of the month=0.75*250, plus 150*0.8 store purchased during the month, BUT as long as we don't know how many pads store sold last month we can not determine the number of pads left at the end of the month. Not sufficient. (2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was$180. Well this is clearly insufficient. Was any number purchased during the month? What was the selling price of a pad? Not sufficient.

(1)+(2) We know how many and at what price was purchased during the month, plus we are told the revenue was 180, but we don't know the selling price of one pad, thus can not determine how many was sold and how many left.

Is it necessary that a sale was made last month ?

(2) says: last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was $180. _________________ Manager Joined: 07 Apr 2012 Posts: 127 Location: United States Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Operations Schools: ISB '15 GMAT 1: 590 Q48 V23 GPA: 3.9 WE: Operations (Manufacturing) Followers: 0 Kudos [?]: 9 [0], given: 45 Re: Writing Pads [#permalink] 12 Sep 2013, 09:12 Is it necessary that a sale was made last month ?[/quote] (2) says: last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was$180.[/quote]

But A does not talk anything related to sales, if B says it could be extraneous info. If A in isolation is considered, we have a valid solution.

Do you think such debatable questions can come up in GMAT, if yes then it must be 800 question , otherwise there is nothing in the question.
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Expert's post
ygdrasil24 wrote:
Is it necessary that a sale was made last month ?

(2) says: last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was $180.[/quote] But A does not talk anything related to sales, if B says it could be extraneous info. If A in isolation is considered, we have a valid solution. Do you think such debatable questions can come up in GMAT, if yes then it must be 800 question , otherwise there is nothing in the question.[/quote] It's a GMAT Prep question and frankly I don't see anything debatable about its validity. Also, it's not necessary that the stem, and each statement to talk about the same thing. _________________ Senior Manager Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 348 Followers: 1 Kudos [?]: 93 [0], given: 12 Re: Writing Pads [#permalink] 12 Sep 2013, 16:17 Bunuel wrote: At the biginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store$0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month?

GMAT likes tricks.

We are asked to determine the cost of goods in the end of the month.

(1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for $0.80 each --> cost of goods at the beginning of the month=0.75*250, plus 150*0.8 store purchased during the month, BUT as long as we don't know how many pads store sold last month we can not determine the number of pads left at the end of the month. Not sufficient. (2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was$180. Well this is clearly insufficient. Was any number purchased during the month? What was the selling price of a pad? Not sufficient.

(1)+(2) We know how many and at what price was purchased during the month, plus we are told the revenue was 180, but we don't know the selling price of one pad, thus can not determine how many was sold and how many left.

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Joined: 29 Jan 2013
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Bluelagoon wrote:
Bunuel wrote:
At the biginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store $0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month? GMAT likes tricks. We are asked to determine the cost of goods in the end of the month. (1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for$ 0.80 each --> cost of goods at the beginning of the month=0.75*250, plus 150*0.8 store purchased during the month, BUT as long as we don't know how many pads store sold last month we can not determine the number of pads left at the end of the month. Not sufficient.

(2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was $180. Well this is clearly insufficient. Was any number purchased during the month? What was the selling price of a pad? Not sufficient. (1)+(2) We know how many and at what price was purchased during the month, plus we are told the revenue was 180, but we don't know the selling price of one pad, thus can not determine how many was sold and how many left. Answer: E. i am not sure about this. had the question mentioned revenue , your explanation would fit but it just asked for the amount spent. A gives that, I was stumbled like the way you did and went wrong. But if you c the question ' What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month?' The question asks about the amount the store spent on books that were left at the end of the month, option A gives total amount spent on books that are initially available with the store. No information is given about the books present in the store at the end of the month. We need the number of books available with store at the end of the month. The store may/may not have sales in the month Math Expert Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 27121 Followers: 4185 Kudos [?]: 40475 [0], given: 5540 Re: Writing Pads [#permalink] 12 Sep 2013, 23:09 Expert's post Bluelagoon wrote: Bunuel wrote: At the biginning of last month, a stationery store had in stock 250 writing pads, which had cost the store$0.75 each. During the same month the store made only one purchase of writing pads. What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month?

GMAT likes tricks.

We are asked to determine the cost of goods in the end of the month.

(1) Last month the store purchased 150 writing pads for $0.80 each --> cost of goods at the beginning of the month=0.75*250, plus 150*0.8 store purchased during the month, BUT as long as we don't know how many pads store sold last month we can not determine the number of pads left at the end of the month. Not sufficient. (2) Last month the total revenue from the sales of the writing pads was$180. Well this is clearly insufficient. Was any number purchased during the month? What was the selling price of a pad? Not sufficient.

(1)+(2) We know how many and at what price was purchased during the month, plus we are told the revenue was 180, but we don't know the selling price of one pad, thus can not determine how many was sold and how many left.

Question asks: What was the total amount spent by the store on the writing pads it had in stock at the end of last month?
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Re: At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in [#permalink]  13 Sep 2013, 12:57
Expert's post
Hi Bunuel,
Just curious - why we're assuming that stored had sold some of the writing pads during the month? It's nowhere mentioned explicitly. Right..? In that way A should be the answer!

P.S: I know it's an official question so it has to be correct but I'm not able to get that properly. Please help me to connect that chord.
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Re: At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in [#permalink]  10 Oct 2013, 06:07
I have another question. Even if we had known how many pads were sold, could we calcuate the amount spend on pad at the end of the month.
Because we bought 150 at different price and we sold 180. We do not know how many were from $0.80 stock. Thanks Amit SVP Joined: 06 Sep 2013 Posts: 2026 Concentration: Finance GMAT 1: 710 Q48 V39 Followers: 24 Kudos [?]: 291 [0], given: 354 Re: At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in [#permalink] 07 Feb 2014, 04:26 AMITAGARWAL2 wrote: I have another question. Even if we had known how many pads were sold, could we calcuate the amount spend on pad at the end of the month. Because we bought 150 at different price and we sold 180. We do not know how many were from$0.80 stock.

Thanks
Amit

AMIT That's exactly it!

To summarize: So we know what the initial stock price is and we know that the store made only one purchase and know the total cost of the purchase. But we need to know about the pads sold. Now, if the store sold pads for 180 that's great but we still don't know what inventory remains since we have 2 different product costs (Remember FIFO and LIFO and all that stuff...). Well that's exactly it. Answer is E

Hope its clear now
Cheers
J
Re: At the beginning of last month, a stationery store had in   [#permalink] 07 Feb 2014, 04:26
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