Bunuel
A hotel purchased a number of hand towels and a number of bath towels. If the cost of each hand towel was $6.00 and the cost of each bath towel was $11.00, what were the total cost of the hand towels and bath towels purchased by the hotel?
(1) The total cost of the hand towels purchased by the hotel was $84.00.
(2) The total number of hand towels and bath towels purchased by the hotel was 32.
Solution:
Step 1: Analyse Question Stem
Let \(h\) and \(b\) be the number of the hand towels and bath towels respectively.
• Cost of each hand towel is $ 6.00
o The total cost of hand towels = \(6*h\)
• Cost of each bath towel is $ 11.00o The total cost of bath towel = \(11*b\)
We need to find the total cost of the towels purchased.
• \(6*h+11*b\), we just need the value of \(h\) and \(b\).
Step 2: Analyse Statements Independently (And eliminate options) – AD/BCE
Statement 1: The total cost of the hand towels purchased by the hotel was $84.00.
• \(6*h = 84\)
o \(h = \frac{84}{6} = 14\)
• Here, we don’t know anything about the value of \(b\), we can’t find the total cost.
Hence, statement 1 is not sufficient, we can eliminate answer options A and D.
Statement 2: The total number of hand towels and bath towels purchased by the hotel was \(32\).
• \(h + b = 32\)
o Here, we don’t know the exact value of \(h\) and \(b\).
Hence, statement 2 is not sufficient, we can eliminate answer options B.
Step 3: Analyse Statements by combining.
From statement 1: \(h = 14\)
From statement 2: \(h + b = 32\)
By combining the statements, we get
• \(b = 32 – 14 = 18\)
• Now, \(h = 14\) and \(b = 18.\), we can use these values to find the total cost of the towels.
Hence, the correct answer is Option C.