250 panelists participated in two blind tastings of a Spanis

Question

250 panelists participated in two blind tastings of a Spanish wine and an Argentinian wine. In the first tasting, \(50+p%\)percent of the panelists preferred the Argentinian wine. In the second tasting, conducted with the wines served 5 degrees cooler than in the first tasting, \(50+2p%\)percent of the panelists preferred the Spanish wine. The number of panelists who preferred the Spanish wine in the second tasting was 16 greater than the number who preferred the Argentinian wine in the first tasting. How many more panelists preferred the Spanish wine in the second tasting than in the first tasting?

(A) 40
(B) 42
(C) 44
(D) 46
(E) 48

Show Answer

Official Answer

E

(A) 40
(B) 42 
(C) 44 
(D) 46 
(E) 48

prashant1176 · Answer

is it (50+p)% or 50+p% ? does anyone this its a bit ambigous or is it just me ?

HarshavardhanR · Answer

https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=89349 (50+p) %; (50 + 2p) % would have been a bit clearer, I guess. --- Harsha GMAT-Club-Forum-pex0haw4.png

kevincan · Answer

\frac{p}{100}\cdot250=16

since the number who preferred the Spanish wine in the second tasting exceeded the number who preferred the Argentinian wine in the first tasting by p percent of 250, the number of panelists .

The number of panelists who preferred the Spanish wine increased by  3p % of 250 so the difference requested is   3(16)=48.

egmat · Answer

Hi prashant1176,

Good eye, and you're not the only one who pauses here. The intended reading is  (50+p)%  - the percent sign applies to the  whole  expression, so it's the single quantity  50+p , expressed as a percentage.

Here's the clean way to confirm it from the problem itself, not from the notation alone:

- In the first tasting,  (50+p)%  prefer the Argentinian wine, which leaves  (50−p)%  preferring the Spanish wine.
- Those two shares are the whole group, so they must add to  100% :  (50+p) + (50−p) = 100 . ✓

That only works if the  %  sits on the entire  (50+p) . If you instead read it as  50 + p%  - meaning "fifty  plus  p-percent" - you'd be adding a bare number ( 50 ) to a percentage ( p% ), and the two shares would no longer combine into a sensible  100%  of the panelists. So the context forces the  (50+p)%  reading.

Answer: E

Sonatomar · Answer

well i think whatever is the difference be , it will be a multiple of 16.

250 panelists participated in two blind tastings of a Spanis

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250 panelists participated in two blind tastings of a Spanis

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