fluke
Total budget = 500
Is profit > 150
Or is expenditure < 350
1) Total cost = Material+Labor
T = M+L
T = 3M
3M = M+L
2M = L
Labor cost is twice that of material.
If M=1, L=2; T=3. Expenditure < 350. Yes
M=150; L=300; T=450;
Actually, you may not want to use so many variables and then plug values. Chances of error are very high in this case. Preferably, stick to algebra or reason it out as follows:
>>> A construction company was paid a total of $500,000 for a construction project. The company's only costs for the project were for labor and materials.
500,000 is divided into 3 parts - Labor costs, material costs and profit.
>>> Was the company's profit greater than $150,000?
Was profit > 150,000?
>>> (1) The company's total cost was three times its cost for materials.
labor cost + material cost = 3 * material cost
labor cost = 2* material costSo now we know that 500,000 is divided into 3 parts - 2*material costs (labor), material costs and profit.
But no idea what these costs and profit are. Not sufficient.
>>> (2) The company's profit was greater than its cost for labor
Profit > labor cost but no idea how much labor cost or material cost was. Not sufficient.
Together,
Profit > 2 material cost so even if it was greater than 2*material cost by a very very small amount, 500,000 would have been split into 3 parts: 2*material cost (labor), material cost and 2*material cost (profit)
So 2*material cost would be at least 200,000. Hence profit is at least 200,000. Sufficient.
Answer (C).