A candy wholesaler needs to quickly sell some candy bars

i thought we can probably assume here that the price of all candidates reduced by same amt..
question is not testing that.
But probably -

% price reduction = \frac{(new price - old price) *100}{old price}

A - let the original price be $1, then % price reduction = (-36)/100 = -36%
but if the original price is $2, then % price reduction = (200-36-200)/200 = -18%

so insufficient.

B - 144 candidate bars - saving %51.84
so 1 candidate bar saving = 51.84/144 = $0.36.. which is same as 1... so insufficient.

together both the statements are not going to bring any thing different.

so E.

shouldnt the ans be 'C' ?

let the original price of candy bar be x

hence, from stmnt 1 & 2, we get

144(x) - 144(x-0.36) = 51.84

from this, we would get the original price of the candy bar and the reduced price would be x - 0.36.
we can know the difference in percentage...

people ansering E, pls explain..

Please solve the equation completely and you'll get your answer.

To some degree I agree with answer c, statement 1 is insufficient, statement 2 alone insufficient but statement 2 tells us that he saves 36 cents per candy bar when buying wholesale. Both combined he reduces by 100 % since 36/36.

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

Statement 1 and 2 basically say the same thing.
Stmt 1 says - the price of ONE candy bar is reduced by 36 cents .
Stmt 2 in disguise , also says the same ( gives the same info that price of one candy is reduced by 36 cents).

But To calculate the percent reduction in the price of the any commodity , you need the original price of the commodity. If original price of a candy , or new reduced price were given then either of the statements would have sufficed.

Let X be the original price and Y be the reduced price .
Hence % reduction P = (X-Y)/X * 100 .
We only know X-Y=0.36 , from Stmt1/Stmt2 , need need value of X or Y to calculate.

Hope that helps
Jyothi

Forget conventional ways of solving math questions. In DS, Variable approach is the easiest and quickest way to find the answer without actually solving the problem. Remember equal number of variables and independent equations ensures a solution.

A candy wholesaler needs to quickly sell some candy bars that are nearing their expiration date, so he reduced the price of the candy bars. By what percent did he reduce the price of the candy bars?

(1) The price of a candy bar was reduced by 36 cents.
(2) If a candy retailer purchases a case of 144 candy bars from the wholesaler, she will save $51.84 as a result of the price reduction.

There are 3 variables (n: the number of the candy bars sold, p: the original price of the candy bars and r: the reduced price of the candy bars) in the original condition. In order to match the number of variables and the number of equations, we need 3 equations. Since the condition 1) and 2) each has 1 equation, there is high chance E is the answer.
Using the both condition 1) and 2), we obtain p-r=0.36 and 144(p-r)=51.84. However, we cannot know the total number of the candy bars purchased. Therefore, the correct answer is E.

For cases where we need 3 more equations, such as original conditions with “3 variables”, or “4 variables and 1 equation”, or “5 variables and 2 equations”, we have 1 equation each in both 1) and 2). Therefore, there is 80% chance that E is the answer (especially about 90% of 2 by 2 questions where there are more than 3 variables), while C has 15% chance. These two are the majority. In case of common mistake type 3,4, the answer may be from A, B or D but there is only 5% chance. Since E is most likely to be the answer using 1) and 2) separately according to DS definition (It saves us time). Obviously, there may be cases where the answer is A, B, C or D.

We don't know both the original price of each candy while using both the statements separately and while using the statements together is a valid reason to choose E. Agreed.

My question here is - could there be one more reason to reject statement 2. Another reason I see is - the statement two says the retailer purchases 144 candy bars from the wholesaler, but it doesn't say whether all these 144 bars were on sale or some of them (say 100 bars) were on sale and some of them were not (say 44 bars bought at original price).

Can this be a reason to reject statement 2, in case they had given the original price too in statement 2 ?

KarishmaB can you please clarify my doubt ?

Vetrick - One would assume that they are talking about candies on sale only. Since they talk about a 'case of 144 candy bars,' and then the discount on the case, I would assume that all have the same expiration.
Here both statements give us the same information without giving the original and discounted price. just knowing the amount of discount is not enough.

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