GMAT Question of the Day - Daily to your Mailbox; hard ones only

 It is currently 20 Oct 2018, 18:44

GMAT Club Daily Prep

Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be

Author Message
TAGS:

Hide Tags

Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 50007
An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be  [#permalink]

Show Tags

29 Mar 2018, 23:52
00:00

Difficulty:

35% (medium)

Question Stats:

74% (03:03) correct 26% (03:38) wrong based on 54 sessions

An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be sold for $144 each, which represents a 20 percent markup over the store owner’s initial cost for each microwave. Of the microwave ovens ordered, 5 were never sold. These ovens were returned for a refund of 50 percent of the owner’s initial cost. What was the owner’s profit or loss as a percent of the initial cost of the 50 microwave ovens? (A) 15% loss (B) 13% loss (C) 10% profit (D) 13% profit (E) 15% profit _________________ BSchool Forum Moderator Joined: 07 Jan 2016 Posts: 764 Location: India GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V36 Re: An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be [#permalink] Show Tags 30 Mar 2018, 00:05 1 Bunuel wrote: An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be sold for$144 each, which represents a 20 percent markup over the store owner’s initial cost for each microwave. Of the microwave ovens ordered, 5 were never sold. These ovens were returned for a refund of 50 percent of the owner’s initial cost. What was the owner’s profit or loss as a percent of the initial cost of the 50 microwave ovens?

(A) 15% loss
(B) 13% loss
(C) 10% profit
(D) 13% profit
(E) 15% profit

50 ovens

144 = markup of 20% intiial cost = 120

50x120 = 6000 $(CP) 5 refunded = 300$ refunded
CP = 5700

sp = 45 x 144 ( 5 never sold) =6480

profit

6480-5700/5700 ~13 IMO
Senior SC Moderator
Joined: 22 May 2016
Posts: 2037
An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be  [#permalink]

Show Tags

30 Mar 2018, 19:06
Bunuel wrote:
An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be sold for $144 each, which represents a 20 percent markup over the store owner’s initial cost for each microwave. Of the microwave ovens ordered, 5 were never sold. These ovens were returned for a refund of 50 percent of the owner’s initial cost. What was the owner’s profit or loss as a percent of the initial cost of the 50 microwave ovens? (A) 15% loss (B) 13% loss (C) 10% profit (D) 13% profit (E) 15% profit I interpret "initial cost of 50" to mean "cost of 50 before the refund." You cannot have "initial costs" that account for unsold items before you try to sell the items. Further, if initial cost does not include refund, the answer is precise, like the answer choices. If the refund is included, the percent is a very messy number. In calculating profit as a percent of initial cost of 50, therefore, I excluded the refund. In calculating profit per se, I included the refund. Initial cost of 50 = (Cost per item, $$c$$) * 50 Cost per item is derived from SP per item =$144
$144 = 20% markup over initial $$c$$ $$1.2c=144$$ $$c=(\frac{144}{1.2})=120$$ Initial cost of 50: $$(120*50) = 6,000$$ Actual cost of 50= ($6,000-$refund) Refund: 50% of (5*$120)= $600 Refund: (.50 *$600) = $300 Actual cost of 50: ($6,000 - $300) =$5,700

Gross profit: TR - (actual cost of 50)
TR = $$(45*144)=(90*72)=6,480$$
Gross profit: $$(6,480-5,700)=780$$

Profit as a percent of INITIAL cost of 50?

$$\frac{+780}{6,000}=\frac{39}{300}=\frac{13}{100}*100= +13$$ %

*My interpretation of "initial cost of 50" as "before refund" is based on syntax, semantics, and answer choices. Syntactically, all three mentions of cost are phrased precisely as "initial cost" (i.e., not the typical phrase, "total cost").

Semantically, it seems odd to include the refund in initial cost. As mentioned, how can we account initially for the number of items that will not sell before they are put on sale? Finally, the answer choices have exact numbers. If the refund is included in "initial cost," profit as a percent of the latter, see below, is an unwieldy number.

If the refund is not included in initial cost, the result is precise, in keeping with the answer choices' numbers. The prompt does not mention approximation.

If initial cost of 50 means "\$5,700" the result is messy:
$$(\frac{780}{5,700})\approx{.1376}*100\approx{13.76}\approx{13.8}$$%
True, the percent cannot be > 14. Answer (D), +13%, thus is reasonable -- or perhaps just lucky. Interpreting "initial cost of 50" as "inclusive of the refund" may fail to answer the question properly. YMMV

_________________

___________________________________________________________________
For what are we born if not to aid one another?
-- Ernest Hemingway

An appliance store owner ordered 50 countertop microwave ovens to be &nbs [#permalink] 30 Mar 2018, 19:06
Display posts from previous: Sort by