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

 It is currently 12 Dec 2013, 14:54

# Events & Promotions

###### Events & Promotions in June
Open Detailed Calendar

# John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a

Author Message
TAGS:
Manager
Joined: 02 Dec 2012
Posts: 178
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 19 [1] , given: 0

John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  27 Dec 2012, 05:05
1
KUDOS
00:00

Difficulty:

45% (medium)

Question Stats:

53% (02:58) correct 46% (02:04) wrong based on 110 sessions
John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a certain job together. John worked on the job for 10 hours and Mary worked 2 hours less than John. If Mary gave John y dollars of her payment so that they would have received the same hourly wage, what was the dollar amount, in terms of y, that John was paid in advance?

(A) 4y
(B) 5y
(C) 6y
(D) 8y
(E) 9y
[Reveal] Spoiler: OA
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 15142
Followers: 2535

Kudos [?]: 15631 [8] , given: 1565

Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  27 Dec 2012, 05:07
8
KUDOS
Expert's post
John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a certain job together. John worked on the job for 10 hours and Mary worked 2 hours less than John. If Mary gave John y dollars of her payment so that they would have received the same hourly wage, what was the dollar amount, in terms of y, that John was paid in advance?

(A) 4y
(B) 5y
(C) 6y
(D) 8y
(E) 9y

The amount Mary has in the end is x-y dollars and she worked for 8 hours;
The amount John has in the end is x+y dollars and he worked for 10 hours;;

We are told that in this case their hourly wage was the same: hourly \ wage=\frac{wage}{# \ of \ hours \ worked}=\frac{x-y}{8}=\frac{x+y}{10}, from \frac{x-y}{8}=\frac{x+y}{10} we get that x=9y.

_________________
Intern
Joined: 06 Jan 2013
Posts: 17
Concentration: Strategy, General Management
GMAT 1: 700 Q43 V42
GMAT 2: 730 Q47 V42
WE: Management Consulting (Consulting)
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 10 [0], given: 61

Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  27 Apr 2013, 09:00
Thanks Bunuel, this is the best approach I've seen.
_________________

I blog about the GMAT/MBA experience as it happens to me. Also, Zoolander.

http://fromgmattomba.wordpress.com/

Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 15142
Followers: 2535

Kudos [?]: 15631 [0], given: 1565

Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  21 Aug 2013, 02:14
Expert's post
Bumping for review and further discussion.
_________________
Intern
Joined: 09 Sep 2013
Posts: 19
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 1 [0], given: 7

Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  18 Oct 2013, 15:30
Could someone also do this problem plugging numbers. I tried but it is not working.
Intern
Joined: 04 Aug 2013
Posts: 1
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 1 [1] , given: 0

Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  18 Nov 2013, 18:45
1
KUDOS
runningguy wrote:
Could someone also do this problem plugging numbers. I tried but it is not working.

I had trouble coming up with the above approach so i tried plugging numbers.

You are told John worked 10 hrs and Mary worked 8, and they are EACH paid x dollars for their work. I chose 80 for x since it's a multiple of
8 and 10. In this case, John is paid 8/hr and Mary is paid 10/hr. Since they have to be paid the same amount, Mary gives $1 to John (remember, y represents the amount of money she gives to John, so here y = 1). John now earns$9/hr or 9y.
Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 3758
Location: Pune, India
Followers: 806

Kudos [?]: 3205 [0], given: 137

Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink]  18 Nov 2013, 20:32
Expert's post
runningguy wrote:
Could someone also do this problem plugging numbers. I tried but it is not working.

Number plugging could work like this:

John worked on the job for 10 hours and Mary worked for 8 hours. They were both paid an equal amount but Mary gave John some of her amount so that they both get the same hourly wage. We can easily imagine this by assuming that they both got $9 each initially and Mary gave$1 to John so that Mary got $8 (@$1 per hr) and John got $10 (@$1 per hr).
So x could be $9 and y could be$1.
We need x in terms of y which is x = 9y
_________________

Karishma
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor
My Blog

Save $100 on Veritas Prep GMAT Courses And Admissions Consulting Enroll now. Pay later. Take advantage of Veritas Prep's flexible payment plan options. Veritas Prep Reviews Intern Joined: 10 Nov 2013 Posts: 11 Concentration: Healthcare, Strategy WE: Information Technology (Health Care) Followers: 1 Kudos [?]: 0 [0], given: 21 Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a [#permalink] 01 Dec 2013, 10:19 HCalum11 wrote: runningguy wrote: Could someone also do this problem plugging numbers. I tried but it is not working. I had trouble coming up with the above approach so i tried plugging numbers. You are told John worked 10 hrs and Mary worked 8, and they are EACH paid x dollars for their work. I chose 80 for x since it's a multiple of 8 and 10. In this case, John is paid 8/hr and Mary is paid 10/hr. Since they have to be paid the same amount, Mary gives$1 to John (remember, y represents the amount of money she gives to John, so here y = 1). John now earns $9/hr or 9y. Exactly!.. I picked up the same approach with 800$ provided to Mary and John.. It is easier to choose the multiple of rates when picking up a number instead of a just using a 100\$ approach..
Re: John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a   [#permalink] 01 Dec 2013, 10:19
Similar topics Replies Last post
Similar
Topics:
1 John and Mary were each paid X dollars in advance to do a 4 14 Sep 2007, 03:45
2 John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a 6 25 Feb 2008, 01:33
6 John and Marry were each paid x dollars in advance to do a 10 07 Jun 2008, 12:59
OG C #220 John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance 9 20 Jun 2008, 00:48
8 Each week, Harry is paid x dollars per hour for the first 30 6 28 Apr 2012, 13:07
Display posts from previous: Sort by