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# In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and

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Math Expert
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In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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15 Jun 2016, 00:21
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65% (hard)

Question Stats:

66% (01:54) correct 34% (02:18) wrong based on 867 sessions

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In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993. The bicycle producers of Western Europe had a 42 percent share of this market in 1990 and a 33 percent share in 1993. Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?

A) 9% of (x/100)
B) 14% of (x/100)
C) 75% of (x/100)
D) 9% of x
E) 14% of x
[Reveal] Spoiler: OA

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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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15 Jun 2016, 05:20
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AbdurRakib wrote:
In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993. The bicycle producers of Western Europe had a 42 percent share of this market in 1990 and a 33 percent share in 1993. Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?

A) 9% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
B) 14% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
C) 75% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
D) 9% of x
E) 14% of x

OG 2017 New Question

The decrease has been from 42% of x to 33% of x = 9% of x...

Remember we are looking for NUMBER and 9% of x will give us answer in NUMBER... do not fall for A

D
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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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17 Jun 2016, 05:36
Though Question is Easy but the language of question is highly Convoluted, and i guess this is the problem with me only or language of the question is actually hard.

Moreover is't question actually asking the the difference between the {(Quantity Produced + Quantity Sold ) in 1990 - (Quantity Produced + Quantity Sold ) in 1993}

Though the Quantity sold in both the years is same it actually boils down to (Quantity Produced in 1990 ) in (Quantity Produced in 1993)

Hope my understanding is correct.
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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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28 Oct 2016, 21:07
chetan2u wrote:
AbdurRakib wrote:
In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993. The bicycle producers of Western Europe had a 42 percent share of this market in 1990 and a 33 percent share in 1993. Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?

A) 9% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
B) 14% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
C) 75% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
D) 9% of x
E) 14% of x

OG 2017 New Question

The decrease has been from 42% of x to 33% of x = 9% of x...

Remember we are looking for NUMBER and 9% of x will give us answer in NUMBER... do not fall for A

D

Can you plx explain why is the follwoingequation not correct

0.42x-0.33x[fraction]0.42x[/fraction][*]100?
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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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04 Nov 2016, 07:14
deeksha6 wrote:
chetan2u wrote:
AbdurRakib wrote:
In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993. The bicycle producers of Western Europe had a 42 percent share of this market in 1990 and a 33 percent share in 1993. Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?

A) 9% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
B) 14% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
C) 75% of ($$\frac{x}{100}$$)
D) 9% of x
E) 14% of x

OG 2017 New Question

The decrease has been from 42% of x to 33% of x = 9% of x...

Remember we are looking for NUMBER and 9% of x will give us answer in NUMBER... do not fall for A

D

Can you plx explain why is the follwoingequation not correct

0.42x-0.33x[fraction]0.42x[/fraction][*]100?

The question is asking for the change in number of bikes sold, 0.42x is the number in 1990 and 0.33x is the number in 1993. so their difference is the answer.

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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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05 Dec 2016, 17:31
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Bunuel wrote:
In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993. The bicycle producers of Western Europe had a 42 percent share of this market in 1990 and a 33 percent share in 1993. Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?

A) 9% of (x/100)
B) 14% of (x/100)
C) 75% of (x/100)
D) 9% of x
E) 14% of x

We are given that in 1990 the bicycle producers in Western Europe produced and sold 42 percent of the bicycles in that market, and in 1993 they produced and sold 33 percent of the bicycles in that market.

Thus, they produced 0.42(x) bicycles in 1990, and 0.33(x) bicycles in 1993.

The decrease in bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993 was:

0.42(x) - 0.33(x) = 0.09x or 9 percent of x.

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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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01 Aug 2017, 06:02
Bunuel wrote:
In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993. The bicycle producers of Western Europe had a 42 percent share of this market in 1990 and a 33 percent share in 1993. Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?

A) 9% of (x/100)
B) 14% of (x/100)
C) 75% of (x/100)
D) 9% of x
E) 14% of x

Can we expect such convoluted wordings in the real exam? The way the question is worded, it is asking for 2 things: decrease in X and Y.X= # of bicycles produced. Y= # of bicycles sold. Also, the phrase 'from 1990 to 1993' just makes it even more wordy.
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In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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06 Sep 2017, 20:08
This cannot be an official question language is very confusing or has not been reproduced correctly-"Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?"- This means cycle industry has shrunk? but the information is about the western Europe manufacturers.
The answer though could be following if the question is worded right.
Lets us say in 1990 the no of bicycles sold was x=100 and with 42% of Market share(MS) the units sold is 42
1993 the no of bicycles sold was again 100 than 33% with MS is 33. The difference is 9 of 100(X).
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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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14 Nov 2017, 19:10
gps5441 wrote:
This cannot be an official question language is very confusing or has not been reproduced correctly-"Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?"- This means cycle industry has shrunk? but the information is about the western Europe manufacturers.
The answer though could be following if the question is worded right.
Lets us say in 1990 the no of bicycles sold was x=100 and with 42% of Market share(MS) the units sold is 42
1993 the no of bicycles sold was again 100 than 33% with MS is 33. The difference is 9 of 100(X).

Agreed, this is really poorly worded, but they probably did this on purpose. This one is from OG 2018, so definitely something we could see during the real test...
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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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14 Nov 2017, 19:51
gps5441 wrote:
This cannot be an official question language is very confusing or has not been reproduced correctly-"Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?"- This means cycle industry has shrunk? but the information is about the western Europe manufacturers.
The answer though could be following if the question is worded right.
Lets us say in 1990 the no of bicycles sold was x=100 and with 42% of Market share(MS) the units sold is 42
1993 the no of bicycles sold was again 100 than 33% with MS is 33. The difference is 9 of 100(X).

This is from OG 2017 question #68. I don't see any problem with the wording at all.
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In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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03 Dec 2017, 21:22
This question was incredibly easy to solve. So easy, that I actually thought I did it incorrectly at first, and spent way too much time seeing if there was some other way to solve.

The wording of the question is what makes it tricky. "Which of the following represents the decrease in the annual number of bicycles produced and sold in Western Europe from 1990 to 1993?"

First of all, we know that x=total number of bicycles sold each year in Western Europe. Here's the tricky part. It tells us that the producers of bicycles in Western Europe had a total market share of 42% in 1990, and 33% in 1993. Since we know that x is the total number of bikes sold, to find the difference of total number of bikes produced and sold in Western Europe from the two years 1990 and 1993, use 0.42x-0.33x which equals 0.09x. Why can we just use 42% and 33%? Because if a Western European producer sold a bicycle in Western Europe, logically, that has to mean that the bike was produced and sold in Western Europe. So our answer, 0.09x is the same as saying "9 percent of x". The correct answer is D.
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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and [#permalink]

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17 Jan 2018, 12:27
Hi All,

While this question is wordy, it can be solved by taking the proper notes and TESTing VALUES.

We're told that X bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and 1993.

IF.... X = 100

100 bicycles sold in 1990
100 bicycles sold in 1993

Next, we're told that the producers had a 42% share of the market in 1990 and a 33% share of the market in 1993....

1990 share = 42% of 100 = 42 bicycles
1993 share = 33% of 100 = 33 bicycles

We're asked for the DECREASE in the NUMBER of bicycles sold by those producers from 1990 to 1993. That number is 42 - 33 = 9, so we're looking for an answer that equals 9 when we place X = 100 into the answer choices. There's only one answer that matches...

[Reveal] Spoiler:
D

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Re: In western Europe, x bicycles were sold in each of the years 1990 and   [#permalink] 17 Jan 2018, 12:27
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