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# cost of a call

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Manager
Joined: 13 Jul 2010
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cost of a call [#permalink]  21 Nov 2010, 19:46
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(N/A)

Question Stats:

0% (00:00) correct 100% (01:26) wrong based on 1 sessions
A telephone company charges x cents for the first
minute of a call and charges for any additional time
at the rate of y cents per minute. If a certain call
costs $5.55 and lasts more than 1 minute, which of the following expressions represents the length of that call, in minutes? (A) $$555 - x / y$$ (B) $$555+x- y/y$$ (C) $$555-x+ y/y$$ (D) $$555-x- y/y$$ (E) $$555/x+ y$$ Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor Joined: 16 Oct 2010 Posts: 5449 Location: Pune, India Followers: 1331 Kudos [?]: 6773 [0], given: 177 Re: cost of a call [#permalink] 21 Nov 2010, 20:10 Expert's post gettinit wrote: A telephone company charges x cents for the first minute of a call and charges for any additional time at the rate of y cents per minute. If a certain call costs$5.55 and lasts more than 1 minute, which of
the following expressions represents the length of
that call, in minutes?
(A) $$555 - x / y$$
(B) $$555+x- y/y$$
(C) $$555-x+ y/y$$
(D) $$555-x- y/y$$
(E) $$555/x+ y$$

Let us say the call lasts for n minutes.
Cost of first minute = x
Cost of next (n - 1) minutes = y(n - 1)
Then, x + y(n - 1) = 555
n = (555-x)/y + 1 = (555 - x + y)/y
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Karishma
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Manager
Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Posts: 169
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Kudos [?]: 27 [0], given: 7

Re: cost of a call [#permalink]  22 Nov 2010, 20:01
Thanks Karishma should have known the trap answer here was A, and used Algebra to solve.
Intern
Joined: 10 Oct 2010
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Re: cost of a call [#permalink]  26 Nov 2010, 15:34
On the test wold they put the options in parentheses?
Manager
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Kudos [?]: 27 [0], given: 7

Re: cost of a call [#permalink]  26 Nov 2010, 15:42
Wofford wrote:
On the test wold they put the options in parentheses?

I think they will. They cannot make answer choices ambiguous because they want to make sure you answer correctly or incorrectly based on your knowledge not because answer choices were not clear.
Manager
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WE 2: 1.0 IT
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Kudos [?]: 33 [0], given: 5

Re: cost of a call [#permalink]  26 Nov 2010, 15:51
Thanks Karishma..
Even i was caught in the trap of answer A.
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Re: cost of a call [#permalink]  26 Nov 2010, 18:59
Expert's post
varunmaheshwari wrote:
Thanks Karishma..
Even i was caught in the trap of answer A.

I am always cautious while marking (A) as my answer. Not because the probability of it being the answer is low, but because if the question has a trap people could fall for, then the question maker will set (A) as that particular lucrative option. (Hell, I do that when I make questions! Kind of a bait!) So I like to double check especially if it seems too easy.

The logic of (555 - x)/y was perfectly valid. The only missing point was that these are the (n -1) additional minutes. You did not account for the 1st minute. So total time will be (555 - x)/y + 1 which is the same as option (C): (555 - x + y)/y

And yes, parentheses will definitely be there in the exam in such a question. 555 - x + y/y = 555 - x + 1 (Since it didn't make any sense here, it was obvious that there are parentheses in the options). Rest assured, there will not be any ambiguity in the actual exam.
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Re: cost of a call   [#permalink] 26 Nov 2010, 18:59
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