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805+ Level|   Word Problems|      
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 17 Jun 2019, 08:24
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A
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43% (02:34) correct 57% (02:10) wrong based on 108 sessions

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Bunuel
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 08 Sep 2021, 09:00
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of its x regional sales directors has y salespeople working for that director. If, for the month of May, SliceCo sold exactly 2,200 knives, how many regional directors worked for SliceCo that month?

(1) Each regional director sold 150 knives, and each salesperson sold 80 knives.

(2) Each regional director had 5 salespeople.
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 08 Sep 2021, 20:46
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Quote:
SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of its x regional sales directors has y salespeople working for that director. If, for the month of May, SliceCo sold exactly 2,200 knives, how many regional directors worked for SliceCo that month?
Show more
Let number of director be x and salesperson be y
To determine x.

(1) Each regional director sold 150 knives, and each salesperson sold 80 knives.
150x + 8y = 2200
Simplifying:
x = (220 - 8y)/15
Possible values of x and y are:
when x = 12, then y = 5
When x = 4, then y = 20
Insufficient

(2) Each regional director had 5 salespeople
x cannot be calculated
Insufficient

(1)+(2);
y=5, x = 12
Sufficient

IMO C
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 29 Sep 2022, 13:29
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Hi Bunuel,

I could see that the response by QuantMadeEasy is C for this question. Is it correct? If so, can you please help here on how to proceed once we get 2 pairs when x = 12, y = 5 and x = 4, y = 20.
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 03 Oct 2022, 01:51
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No correct explanation is given for the question.
Experts may please step in, the correct answer IMO should be C and not A.

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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 03 Oct 2022, 02:48
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Bunuel
SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of its x regional sales directors has y salespeople working for that director. If, for the month of May, SliceCo sold exactly 2,200 knives, how many regional directors worked for SliceCo that month?

(1) Each regional director sold 150 knives, and each salesperson sold 80 knives.

(2) Each regional director had 5 salespeople.
Show more


There are x directors and each director has y salespeople so there are total xy salespeople. x and y both should be integers.

(1) Each regional director sold 150 knives, and each salesperson sold 80 knives.

150x + 80xy = 2200 = Total knives sold

x (15 + 8y) = 220

220 = 2 * 2 * 5 * 11
Since x and y both are integers, x should be a factor of 220 and in that case, y should be an integer too.
If x = 1 or 2 or 5, y is not an integer.
But if x = 4, y is an integer
If x = 10 or greater, (15 + 8y) becomes 22 or less but even if y were 1, (15 + 8y) = 23. So x cannot be 10 or greater.

Hence the only value x can take is 4. Sufficient alone.

(2) Each regional director had 5 salespeople.

Not enough info. We don't know how many knives were sold by each person.

Answer (A)
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 03 Oct 2022, 07:21
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thakrarsagar

Even I earlier figured the answer as C.

In retrospection, each director handles y employees. So if the number of directors is x, then the number of employees is xy.
Only x=4 & xy=20 (i.e. y=5) satisfies that condition. Hence the answer is A.
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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 03 Oct 2022, 22:11
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QuantMadeEasy
Quote:
SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of its x regional sales directors has y salespeople working for that director. If, for the month of May, SliceCo sold exactly 2,200 knives, how many regional directors worked for SliceCo that month?
Let number of director be x and salesperson be y
To determine x.

(1) Each regional director sold 150 knives, and each salesperson sold 80 knives.
150x + 8y = 2200
Simplifying:
x = (220 - 8y)/15
Possible values of x and y are:
when x = 12, then y = 5
When x = 4, then y = 20
Insufficient

(2) Each regional director had 5 salespeople
x cannot be calculated
Insufficient

(1)+(2);
y=5, x = 12
Sufficient

IMO C
Show more
X=12 , y= 5 is ruled out. You can’t have more number of directors than salespeople working for them

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SliceCo, a company that sells knives, is structured so that each of it 18 Sep 2024, 11:26
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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).

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