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# A certain business produced x rakes each month form November

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Joined: 06 Apr 2010
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26 Sep 2010, 11:38
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A certain business produced x rakes each month form November through February and shipped x/2 rakes at the beginning of each month from March through October. The business paid no storage costs for the rakes from November through February, but it paid storage costs of $0.10 per rake each month from March through October for the rakes that had not been shipped. In terms of x, what was the total storage cost, in dollars, that the business paid for the rakes for the 12 months form November through October? A. 0.40x B. 1.20x C. 1.40x D. 1.60x E. 3.20x ##### Most Helpful Expert Reply Math Expert Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 59158 Re: Storage Cost [#permalink] ### Show Tags 26 Sep 2010, 11:42 14 11 udaymathapati wrote: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November through February and shipped x/2 rakes at the beginning of each month from March through October. The business paid no storage costs for the rakes from November through February, but it paid storage costs of$0.10 per rake each month from March through October for the rakes that had not been shipped. In terms of x, what was the total storage cost, in dollars, that the business paid for the rakes for the 12 months form November through October?
A. 0.40x
B. 1.20x
C. 1.40x
D. 1.60x
E. 3.20x

Pick some smart number for $$x$$, let $$x=2$$ (I chose $$x=2$$ as in this case monthly shipments would be $$\frac{x}{2}=1$$).

From November to February $$4x=8$$ rakes were produced and in March business paid for storage of 8-1=7 rakes, in next month for storage of 6 and so on.

So total storage cost would be: $$0.1(7+6+5+4+3+2+1)=2.8$$ --> as $$x=2$$, then $$2.8=1.4x$$.

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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November  [#permalink]

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19 Oct 2014, 19:09
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shreygupta3192 wrote:
can any one please explain this problem piece by piece..didnt get a single word of this question..
n why r u doing 8-1=7..

kindly explain this
thanku.

Hello There,
I hope this helps.
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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November  [#permalink]

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06 Jun 2019, 18:09
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udaymathapati wrote:
A certain business produced x rakes each month form November through February and shipped x/2 rakes at the beginning of each month from March through October. The business paid no storage costs for the rakes from November through February, but it paid storage costs of $0.10 per rake each month from March through October for the rakes that had not been shipped. In terms of x, what was the total storage cost, in dollars, that the business paid for the rakes for the 12 months form November through October? A. 0.40x B. 1.20x C. 1.40x D. 1.60x E. 3.20x We know that the business didn’t need to pay storage costs from November to February. So let’s begin by analyzing what happened in March. Just before March, the business had 4x rakes, and at the beginning of March, they shipped out x/2 rakes; therefore, for the month of March, they had 4x - x/2 = 8x/2 - x/2 = 7x/2 rakes that required storage costs of$0.10 each.

Since they shipped out x/2 rakes at the beginning of each of the subsequent months, from April to October, the number of rakes in storage in these months are 6x/2, 5x/2, 4x/2, 3x/2, 2x/2, x/2 and 0, respectively. Including the 7x/2 rakes in March, the total number of rakes that require storage costs is:

(7x/2 + 0)/2 * 8 = 7x/2 * 4 = 14x

Since each rake cost $0.10 to store, the total storage costs are 14x * 0.1 = 1.4x dollars. Answer: C _________________ # Scott Woodbury-Stewart Founder and CEO Scott@TargetTestPrep.com 122 Reviews 5-star rated online GMAT quant self study course See why Target Test Prep is the top rated GMAT quant course on GMAT Club. Read Our Reviews If you find one of my posts helpful, please take a moment to click on the "Kudos" button. Manager Joined: 19 Nov 2010 Posts: 77 Re: Storage Cost [#permalink] ### Show Tags 26 May 2011, 09:09 1 Total rakes produced 4x. Rakes in the storage first month 3.5x Rakes in the storage in the last month 0.5x Average rakes in the storage 2x Number of months rakes are in the storage 7 (There are no rakes in the storage in Oct) so 2x * 0.1 * 8 = 1.4x Math Expert Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 59158 Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November [#permalink] ### Show Tags 17 Sep 2014, 13:14 1 shreygupta3192 wrote: can any one please explain this problem piece by piece..didnt get a single word of this question.. n why r u doing 8-1=7.. kindly explain this thanku. Let $$x=2$$: The business produced x rakes each month from November through February --> from November to February $$4x=8$$ rakes were produced. The business shipped x/2 rakes, so 1 rake, at the beginning of March and started paying storage costs in March, so in March business paid for storage of 8-1=7 rakes. Please re-read the question and the solutions above. Similar question to practice: the-acme-company-manufactured-x-brooms-per-month-from-januar-144318.html _________________ Director Joined: 26 Oct 2016 Posts: 600 Location: United States Concentration: Marketing, International Business Schools: HBS '19 GMAT 1: 770 Q51 V44 GPA: 4 WE: Education (Education) Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November [#permalink] ### Show Tags 14 Jan 2017, 14:57 1 Please find the solution below in terms of algebra. Attachments business.PNG [ 11.37 KiB | Viewed 13148 times ] business.PNG [ 11.37 KiB | Viewed 13143 times ] _________________ Thanks & Regards, Anaira Mitch Manager Joined: 15 Dec 2015 Posts: 114 GMAT 1: 680 Q49 V34 GPA: 4 WE: Information Technology (Computer Software) Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November [#permalink] ### Show Tags 25 Jul 2017, 08:19 1 Explanation: Given certain business produced x rakes each month from November through February and shipped x/2 rakes at the beginning of each month from March through October. From November to February, i.e. in 4 months, x rakes each month are produced. ⇒ Total number of racks produced = 4x Also given the business paid no storage costs for the rakes from November through February, but it paid storage costs of$0.10 per rake each month from March through October for the rakes that had not been shipped.

From March to October, i.e. in 8 months, x/2 rakes each month are shipped. Hence, from March onwards, number of rakes decreases by x/2 at the beginning of every month.

Total storage cost in 12 months
= Storage cost from Nov. to Feb. + storage cost from March to Oct.
= 0 + storage cost from March to Oct.

Number of racks remaining in March = 4x − x/2 = 7x/2. Similarly number of racks remaining from April through September will be 3x, 5x/2, 2x, 3x/2, x and x/2.

Total storage cost from March to Oct. = 0.10 (7x/2 + 3x + 5x/2 + 2x + 3x/2 + x + x/2) = 1.40x

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26 Sep 2010, 20:02
sum of the costs incurred at the beginning of the month
=(1+2+....+7)X/2 * .1 $=1.4X$
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19 Apr 2011, 19:46
1
x + x + x + x -> rakes produced

x/2 * 8 -> Rakes exported

Storage cost =

7x/2 * 0.1 + 3x + 0.1 + 5x/2 * 0.1 + 2x * 0.1 + 3x/2 * 0.1 + x * 0.1 + x/2 * 0.1

( 3.5 + 3 + 2.5 + 2 + 1.5 + 1 + 0.5)x * 0.1

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19 Apr 2011, 20:21
Total Rakes produced = 4 months *x
Total Rakes sold each month March - OCt = x/2
Storage cost (3.5 + 3+ 2.5+2+1.5+1+0.5) x * 0.1

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26 May 2011, 00:21
the costs are = 7x/2 +5x/2+3x/2+x/2+3x+3x+x = 14x
14x * 0.1 = 1.4x
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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November  [#permalink]

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05 Nov 2013, 11:55
Picking smart numbers is an easy and smart solution here. Here's algebra as well:

4x rakes are produced, x/2 are sold each month, and we're assuming at the beginning of each month.

So storage costs
= .1((4x-x/2)+(4x-2x/2)+(4x-3x/2)+(4x-4x/2)+(4x-5x/2)+(4x-6x/2)+(4x-7x/2)+(4x-8x/2))
= .1(8*4x-36x/2)
= .1(32x-18x)
= .1(14x)
= 1.4x
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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November  [#permalink]

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17 Sep 2014, 12:46
can any one please explain this problem piece by piece..didn`t get a single word of this question..
n why r u doing 8-1=7..

kindly explain this
thanku.
Senior Manager
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Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: WHU MBA"20 (A$) GMAT 1: 580 Q46 V24 GPA: 3.88 WE: Information Technology (Consulting) Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November [#permalink] ### Show Tags 19 Jan 2016, 13:17 udaymathapati wrote: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November through February and shipped x/2 rakes at the beginning of each month from March through October. The business paid no storage costs for the rakes from November through February, but it paid storage costs of$0.10 per rake each month from March through October for the rakes that had not been shipped. In terms of x, what was the total storage cost, in dollars, that the business paid for the rakes for the 12 months form November through October?

A. 0.40x
B. 1.20x
C. 1.40x
D. 1.60x
E. 3.20x

You can solve this one using 3 Methods

Method 1
Number picking (see Bunuel's approach)

Method 2
Brute force; Just list the number of monats shipments etc.

Month......1.....2....3........4......5......6.......7.....8
Storage...3,5...3....2,5.....2.....1,5....1......0,5...0 Rakes
Costs....0,35..0,3...0,25..0,2...0,15..0,1...0,05..0 --> 1,4x

Method 3
Number of terms * Average = 7*2=14
14*0,1=1,4
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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November  [#permalink]

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02 Sep 2019, 10:52
it might be too obvious if you say that shipment is in beginning of month and payment later, but still this is the only trick in the question the rest is simple
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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November  [#permalink]

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11 Oct 2019, 03:27
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Re: A certain business produced x rakes each month form November   [#permalink] 11 Oct 2019, 03:27
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