Hi All,
We're told that Company Z only sells chairs and tables. We're asked for the percent of its revenue in 2008 that the company derived from its sales of tables. While this DS question is layered, it offers an interesting shortcut in that it's not asking for the specific price or number of tables and chairs; it's asking for "what percent of its revenue" was from the sale of tables, so you can answer it either with real values or with ratios. Here's a way to think in terms of what's being asked for:
(Total Revenue from tables)/(Total Revenue from tables and chairs) = ?
1) In 2008, the average price of tables sold by company Z was 10% higher than the average price of chairs sold by Company Z.
Fact 1 compares the average price of tables to the average price of chairs, but it DOESN'T tell us about total revenue. Mathematically, we'd have:
(Table Price) = 1.1(Chair Price)
We still don't know how many tables and chairs were sold though.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT.
2) In 2008, Company Z sold 20% fewer tables than chairs.
Based on the information in Fact 2, we'd have:
(Number of Tables) = .8(Number of Chairs)
We still don't know the price of the tables or chairs.
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT.
Combined, we know:
(Table Price) = 1.1(Chair Price)
(Number of Tables) = .8(Number of Chairs)
Table Revenue = (Number of Tables)(Table price)
Total Revenue = (Number of Tables)(Table price) + (Number of chairs)(Chair price)
Now, we can substitute in values of the "chair" info:
Total Revenue = (Number of Tables)(Table price) + (Number of Tables/.8)(Table price/1.1)
Solving for Table Revenue/Total Revenue, all the variables would cancel out and you'd have:
.88/1.88
Don't bother calculating this though. It's enough to give you the only possible answer.
Final Answer:
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich