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cheshire
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A certain corporation has software that calculates the cost of a meeti 06 Jul 2025, 07:06
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Salary is synonymous with hourly salary in this context. Im not sure what a usual salary would amount to, as it doesn't follow a metric of time.
Tucky
Hi KarishmaB

Please help me understand this solution:

The software cost = Sum of ( the hourly salary for each employee X the number of hours that the employee spends at the meeting.
Manager cost = (Total salary/no of emp.) X (No of hours spent/no of emp) X No of emp.

So, In your equation, we have taken S1, S2, S3 common in both equation. But isn't it that hourly salary will be different than Usual Salary?
If Salary of an employee is S1, then hourly salary should be S1/no. of usual work hours.
KarishmaB
parkhydel
A certain corporation has software that calculates the cost of a meeting. The software multiplies the hourly salary for each employee attending the meeting by the number of hours that the employee spends at the meeting. The cost of the meeting is the sum of those results. One manager has used another method to calculate the cost of a meeting. The manager takes the average (arithmetic mean) salary of all employees attending the meeting multiplied by the average number of hours that employees spend at the meeting, which is then multiplied by the total number of employees attending the meeting.

Consider the following incomplete statement:

The manager's calculation is equal to that of the software when all the employees who attend the meeting __1__ at the meeting, or if that is not the case, when all of those employees who attend the meeting __2__

Based on the information provided, select for 1 and for 2 the options that create the statement that is most accurate and rhetorically well-constructed. Make only two selections, one in each column.

Look at how the two calculations are carried out:

Software: \(Total Cost = S1*Nh1 + S2*Nh2 + S3*Nh3 + ...\) (salary * number of hours for each person)

Manager: If Ne is the number of employees who attend the meeting
\(Total Cost = \frac{(S1 + S2 + S3 + ...)}{Ne} * \frac{(Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ...)}{Ne} * Ne = \frac{(S1 + S2 + S3 + ...)*(Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ...)}{Ne}\)



When will the two calculations be equal?

Case 1:
When S1 = S2 = S3 ... = S, then in both cases, Total Cost = S*(Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ...)
Note that in this case in Manager's calculation, (S1 + S2 + S3 + ...) = S*Ne

Case 2:
When Nh1 = Nh2 = Nh3 ... = Nh, then in both cases, Total Cost = Nh*(S1 + S2 + S3 + ....)
Note that in this case in Manager's calculation, (Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ..) = Nh*Ne


The manager's calculation is equal to that of the software when all the employees who attend the meeting __1__ at the meeting, or if that is not the case, when all of those employees who attend the meeting __2__

Because of the highlighted words above, spending same time suits blank 1.

Select spend the same amount of time (Nh) for 1 and have the same salary for 2.
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A certain corporation has software that calculates the cost of a meeti 06 Jul 2025, 20:50
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Given: The manager takes the average (arithmetic mean) salary of all employees attending the meeting multiplied by the average number of hours that employees spend at the meeting, which is then multiplied by the total number of employees attending the meeting.

Here, 'average salary of all employees' is the average hourly salary of all employees. Otherwise, the manager could not multiply it by the number of hours spent at the meeting. We do need to be able to infer this in this context.

Tucky
Hi KarishmaB

Please help me understand this solution:

The software cost = Sum of ( the hourly salary for each employee X the number of hours that the employee spends at the meeting.
Manager cost = (Total salary/no of emp.) X (No of hours spent/no of emp) X No of emp.

So, In your equation, we have taken S1, S2, S3 common in both equation. But isn't it that hourly salary will be different than Usual Salary?
If Salary of an employee is S1, then hourly salary should be S1/no. of usual work hours.
KarishmaB
parkhydel
A certain corporation has software that calculates the cost of a meeting. The software multiplies the hourly salary for each employee attending the meeting by the number of hours that the employee spends at the meeting. The cost of the meeting is the sum of those results. One manager has used another method to calculate the cost of a meeting. The manager takes the average (arithmetic mean) salary of all employees attending the meeting multiplied by the average number of hours that employees spend at the meeting, which is then multiplied by the total number of employees attending the meeting.

Consider the following incomplete statement:

The manager's calculation is equal to that of the software when all the employees who attend the meeting __1__ at the meeting, or if that is not the case, when all of those employees who attend the meeting __2__

Based on the information provided, select for 1 and for 2 the options that create the statement that is most accurate and rhetorically well-constructed. Make only two selections, one in each column.

Look at how the two calculations are carried out:

Software: \(Total Cost = S1*Nh1 + S2*Nh2 + S3*Nh3 + ...\) (salary * number of hours for each person)

Manager: If Ne is the number of employees who attend the meeting
\(Total Cost = \frac{(S1 + S2 + S3 + ...)}{Ne} * \frac{(Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ...)}{Ne} * Ne = \frac{(S1 + S2 + S3 + ...)*(Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ...)}{Ne}\)



When will the two calculations be equal?

Case 1:
When S1 = S2 = S3 ... = S, then in both cases, Total Cost = S*(Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ...)
Note that in this case in Manager's calculation, (S1 + S2 + S3 + ...) = S*Ne

Case 2:
When Nh1 = Nh2 = Nh3 ... = Nh, then in both cases, Total Cost = Nh*(S1 + S2 + S3 + ....)
Note that in this case in Manager's calculation, (Nh1 + Nh2 + Nh3 + ..) = Nh*Ne


The manager's calculation is equal to that of the software when all the employees who attend the meeting __1__ at the meeting, or if that is not the case, when all of those employees who attend the meeting __2__

Because of the highlighted words above, spending same time suits blank 1.

Select spend the same amount of time (Nh) for 1 and have the same salary for 2.
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A certain corporation has software that calculates the cost of a meeti 15 Aug 2025, 11:29
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1: spend the same number of hours
2: have the same hourly salary
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A certain corporation has software that calculates the cost of a meeti 11 Jul 2026, 08:07
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The key insight

The software cares about who gets paired with which hours.

If everyone's hours are identical:

There is no meaningful pairing.
Every salary gets multiplied by the same number.

If everyone's salaries are identical:

Again, there is no meaningful pairing.
Every hour gets multiplied by the same number.

So either one being constant destroys the pairing effect.

The sentence I want you to remember

Don't memorize:

"One factor being the same is enough."

Instead memorize this:

The software differs from the manager only because each salary is paired with its own hours. If one variable is the same for everyone, the pairing no longer matters.

That is the real reason.
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