Maxswe wrote:
A store sells two types of birdfeeder: Alphas and Bravos. Alphas feed one bird at a time, whereas Bravos feed two birds at a time. The total number of birds that can be fed at one time by birdfeeders sold last month is 50. What is the total revenue generated by birdfeeders sold last month?
(1) Last month, the price of each Alpha was $15, and the price of each Bravo was $30.
(2) 40 Alphas were sold last month.
Official Explanation:From the words in the question stem,
Extract the Equation. The problem indicates that Alphas can feed one bird at a time and
Bravos two. The problem also indicates that last month 50 birds could be fed at a time, so you have this:
Total number of birds fed = \(A + 2B = 50\), where A and B represent the number of birdfeeders of each type that have been sold.
To calculate the revenue, it seems you will need the prices of the birdfeeders and the number of birdfeeders, A and B.
(1) SUFFICIENT: Again Extract the Equation from the wording of the question:
Total revenue = \($15A + $30B = $15(A + 2B)\)
It turns out that you don't need to know A and B individually, since the question stem equation indicated that \(A + 2B = 50\).
Therefore total revenue equals \($15(A + 2B) = $15(50) = $750\).
It's true that there are many possible values of A and B that satisfy the condition that \(A + 2B = 50\). However, mathematically
every possible combination that satisfies this equation would lead to the same revenue of $750. The number of each type of
birdfeeder sold is irrelevant. In this sense, Extract the Equation can be similar to the Compute to Completion strategy,
because once the equation has been extracted, you may find that the multiple possibilities for the variables might converge to a
single answer to the specific question that's been asked.
(2) INSUFFICIENT: If there were 40 Alphas sold, there were 5 Bravos sold. But you still don't know the prices, so you can't
compute revenue.
The correct answer is
(A)