Hi All,
We're told that Sarah receives a bonus for EACH sale she makes - and that last week, she earned a $4,000 bonus, which decreased her AVERAGE bonus amount to $4800 (which represents a decrease of 4%). We're asked for the number of sales Sarah made. This question can be solved in a couple of different ways, including by TESTing THE ANSWERS.
To start, since both the $4800 and 4% are whole numbers (notice that there are no decimal points), Sarah's prior number of sales AND her total number of sales are likely numbers that do NOT lead to repeating decimals when they are divided into a larger number. For example, when dividing an integer by 1 or 2, the result will NOT be a repeating decimal (whereas when dividing by 6 or 7, most of the time the result will be a repeating decimal). Thus, we are likely looking for a total AND '1 less' than the total that both create a non-repeating decimal. The only answer choice that fits THAT pattern is B (re: 4 sales and 5 sales), so we'll TEST that answer first:
Answer B: 5 total sales
Average = $4800/sale, so TOTAL sales = ($4800)(5) = $24,000
Most recent sale = $4000, so prior total = 24,000 - 4000 = $20,000
Prior average = $20,000/4 = $5000
A decease from 5000 to 4800 = (5000 - 4800)/5000 = 200/5000 = 2/50 = .04 = 4%
This is an exact match for what we were told, so this MUST be the answer.
Final Answer:
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich