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The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi

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Senior Manager
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The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  09 Jul 2007, 17:57
00:00

Difficulty:

65% (hard)

Question Stats:

51% (02:54) correct 49% (01:28) wrong based on 57 sessions
The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At this rate, approximately how many years will it take for the price of an $81 microchip to reach$1?

A. 1.5 years
B. 2 years
C. 3 years
D. 13 years
E. 13.5 years

[Reveal] Spoiler:
this is how i did it-

81- 67% * 81 = 27 approx
27 - 0.67*27 = 9 approx
9- 0.67*9 = 3 approx
3-0.67*3= $1 approx hence, 24 months = 2 yrs is there a faster way?? [Reveal] Spoiler: OA Last edited by Bunuel on 26 Oct 2014, 05:46, edited 1 time in total. Renamed the topic, edited the question and added the OA. Director Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 905 Followers: 4 Kudos [?]: 68 [0], given: 0 Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink] 09 Jul 2007, 18:07 r019h wrote: The price of a microchip declines by 67% every 6 months. At this rate approx. how many years will it take for an$81 chip to reach $1? what's the fastest way to do this problem? this is how i did it- 81- 67% * 81 = 27 approx 27 - 0.67*27 = 9 approx 9- 0.67*9 = 3 approx 3-0.67*3=$1 approx

hence, 24 months = 2 yrs

is there a faster way??

not sure whether you like this:

81 - (81 x 67%) / 3 = 81 - (81 x 2) / 3 = 27 = 81 / 3

1 = 81 / (3x3x3x3) = 81 / 3^4

so the time = 4 x 6 months = 24 months or 2 years.
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  09 Jul 2007, 20:37
i think it should be safe to use 60% (2/3) instead of 67% since the question says approximately.....that will reduce time spent....
Senior Manager
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  10 Jul 2007, 08:17
wudy wrote:
r019h wrote:
i think it should be safe to use 60% (2/3) instead of 67% since the question says approximately.....that will reduce time spent....

Himalayan's solution is better.

not getting this part though-

81 - (81 x 67%) / 3 = 81 - (81 x 2) / 3 = 27 = 81 / 3 <--why did you replace the 67% with 2??
Manager
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  10 Jul 2007, 08:29
r019h wrote:
wudy wrote:
r019h wrote:
i think it should be safe to use 60% (2/3) instead of 67% since the question says approximately.....that will reduce time spent....

Himalayan's solution is better.

not getting this part though-

81 - (81 x 67%) / 3 = 81 - (81 x 2) / 3 = 27 = 81 / 3 <--why did you replace the 67% with 2??

You are right.
I thought Himalayan made a typo. She tries to find out the leftover.
It should be "81 - (81 x 67%) = 81 - (81 x 2) / 3 = 27 = 81 / 3"
Director
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  10 Jul 2007, 08:57
Himalayan wrote:
r019h wrote:
The price of a microchip declines by 67% every 6 months. At this rate approx. how many years will it take for an $81 chip to reach$1?

what's the fastest way to do this problem?

this is how i did it-

81- 67% * 81 = 27 approx
27 - 0.67*27 = 9 approx
9- 0.67*9 = 3 approx
3-0.67*3= \$1 approx

hence, 24 months = 2 yrs

is there a faster way??

not sure whether you like this:

81 - (81 x 67%)/3 = 81 - (81 x 2) / 3 = 27 = 81 / 31 = 81 / (3x3x3x3) = 81 / 3^4

so the time = 4 x 6 months = 24 months or 2 years.

you guys are correct.
there was a typo, it should be:

81 - (81 x 67%) = 81 - (81 x 2) / 3 = 27 = 81 / 3
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  10 Jul 2007, 09:51
1
KUDOS
I think the fastest way is

81 *(1/3)^n = 1
n =4
So 2 yrs
CIO
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  10 Jul 2007, 11:46
Just divide 81 by 3 as many times as necessary to hit 1. It can't take more than 21 seconds to get the answer.
Manager
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  10 Jul 2007, 12:12
i think the key to this question is notice that:

(1-67%) = 1-2/3 = 1/3

Then divide 81/3 until it hits 1.
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi [#permalink]  25 Oct 2014, 08:39
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Re: The price of a microchip declines by 67 percent every 6 months. At thi   [#permalink] 25 Oct 2014, 08:39
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