At the end of August, a store discounts all swimsuits by 40 percent to

CAMANISHPARMAR @yashikaagrwal
Question has asked lowest possible original price which after discount becomes 27$
Which is catch of the question.

first discount has to be 40% ; .6 and additional 10% discount ; .9

.6*.9*x=27
x= 50
OPTION C

You may want to read the question carefully again and attempt it again. It is a very nice question!

You may want to read the question carefully again and attempt it again. It is a very nice question!

You may want to read the question carefully again and attempt it again. It is a very nice question!

Sir can you reveal official answer. Still not getting how the original price is 50.

Posted from my mobile device

Question has asked lowest possible original price which after discount becomes 27$
Which is catch of the question.

first discount has to be 40% ; .6 and additional 10% discount ; .9

.6*.9*x=27
x= 50
OPTION C



yashikaaggarwal




..

You mean to say minimum discount will ensure least price?

No see question stem it has asked
What is the lowest possible original price of a swimsuit that cost $27 in October

So least original price would be 50$

Sure, happy to help!

Official Answer:
The reason that different original prices are possible is that we don't know the exact amount of the August discount. But, since we know the final price and the October discount, we can calculate the price after the August discount. Then, to find the lowest possible original price, we assume that the August discount was as small as possible (because the larger the discount required to reach any given price, the larger the original price must have been).

So, we'll start by calculating the price after the August discount but before the October discount. Let's call this price x dollars. Since this price dropped to $27 after a 10% discount, we can say that x– (10% of x) = 27. Because 10% is equivalent to 0.10, the equation becomes x– 0.10x = 27, or 0.90x = 27. Dividing both sides by 0.90, we have x = 30. So, the price was $30 after the August discount but before the October discount.

Now we assume the August discount was as small as possible, 40%. If y dollars is the original price, y– 0.40y = 30, or 0.60y = 30. Dividing both sides by 0.60, we have y = 50. The original price was $50, so (C) is correct.

Notice that we did not actually have to go through all the steps of setting up the equations each time we needed to work backwards to an original price. In general, we can get the answer more quickly by using the fact that Original Price = Discounted Price / (1-Discount). In fact, this is what we ended up with when we solved our equations.

Answer: Option C

Price in October \(= $27\)

October discount(10%), so $27 = 90% of Price (before discount)
=> Price before discount \(= 30\)

Let's consider, the original price \(= P\)

so, after August end, the discounts are:

Max = 50% discount means the price will be 50% of the original price
50% of P = $30
P = $60

Min = 40% discount means the price will be 60% of the original price

60% of P = $30
P = $50

So, the minimum price is $50 (C)

X(Original)..... between...0.6X.............0.5X
since 0.6>0.5
Minimum will go to 0.6
0.6X*0.9=27
X=50
C:)

LOL EgmatQuantExpert,

0.5*x=30 x=60

0.6*x=30 x=50.

Please correct this!

[(27/0.9)]/0.6=50

With a given final price, which includes the discounts, the lowest initial price will be CLOSEST to this final price and the highest initial price will be FARTHEST.

So the CLOSEST price will require the LEAST discount to reach the final price.

Least initial discount is 40%, final discount 10%.

0.6*.9*Initial price= 27

Initial Price= 27*(5/3)*(10/9) = 50

Posted from my mobile device

October = 27/0.9 = 30
September possible price = 30/0.5 = 60
September possible price #2 = 30/0.6 = 50

Lowest is 50,

Answer: C

Hello from the GMAT Club BumpBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.