Jaime earned enough money by selling seashells at 25 cents each to buy

25*11=275 , which is exactly divisible by 55
Thus 11 is the minimum

Hi All,

Since we're asked for the LEAST number of seashells that could have been sold, and the answer choices are numbers, we can TEST THE ANSWERS.

We're given a number of facts to work with:
1) Jamie sells seashells at 25 cents each.
2) Jamie buys books at 55 cents each.
3) Jamie spent ALL the money he earned selling seashells on books.

We're asked for the LEAST number of seashells that Jamie could have sold...

Let's TEST Answer A: 5 seashells...

With 5 seashells, Jamie would have 5(25) = 125 cents. This would allow him to buy 2 books for 110 cents total, but he would then have 15 cents left over. We're told that he spent ALL of his money on books, so this cannot be the correct answer.

Answer B: 11 seashells....

With 11 seashells, Jamie would have 11(25) = 275 cents. This would allow him to buy 5 books for 275 cents total, with no money left over. This is an exact MATCH for what we were told, so this MUST be the answer.

Final Answer:

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

LCM of 25 and 55, that is 275,
There fore least number will be 275/25 =11

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Solution:

Since Jaime spent all the money he earned selling seashells to buy the books (assuming he had no money left over), the least number of seashells he could have sold must occur when the money he earned, in cents, is the least common multiple (LCM) of 25 and 55. Since the LCM of 25 and 55 is 5 x 5 x 11 = 275, the least number of seashells he could have sold is 275/25 = 11.

Answer: B

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