The price of a coat in a certain store is $500. If the price of the co

Question

The price of a coat in a certain store is $500. If the price of the coat is to be reduced by $150, by what percent is the price to be reduced?

(A) 10%
(B) 15%
(C) 20%
(D) 25%
(E) 30%

2016 GMAT Official Guide, Question 1, Pg. 152

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Accepted Answer

Hi LithiumIon,

This is one of the *new* questions from the OG2016. A PDF listing of all the new questions (by number) can be found here:

empowergmat-blog-198415.html

A certain percentage of questions in the Quant section of the GMAT are just 'math questions' - you'll use a formula, do some calculations and you'll have the answer. This is one of those types of questions. You still have to write everything down and stay organized, but the work involved is relatively straight-forward.

Here, we're told that the price of a coat is $500 and that the price of the coat is to be reduced by $150. We're asked by what PERCENT is the price to be REDUCED?

Original Price = $500
Reduction = $150

The percent reduction is relative to the original price of the coat:

150/500 = 15/50 = 3/10 = 30%

Final Answer:  E

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

GMATinsight · Answer

price of a coat in a certain store = $500

the price of the coat is to be reduced by $150

% change = (Final Value - Initial Value)*100 / Initial Value

% Reduction= (Reduction in Price)*100 / Initial Value

i.e. % Reduction= (150)*100 / 500 = 30%

Answer: Option  E

avigutman · Answer

Video solution from Quant Reasoning:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mTM5vp3e8Q

BrentGMATPrepNow · Answer

Related Resources
The following free video covers the concepts/strategies that are useful for answering this question:

https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat ... video/1078

Cheers,
Brent

rhine29388 · Answer

(150/500)*100 = 30%
correct answer - E

mathiaskeul · Answer

500-150 is 350

350/500

To get from 500 to 100 (which is the reference point for percentages), you divide by 5. Then divide 350 by 5 to get 70. 
70/100 means that the price dropped by 30%

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Solution:

We are given that the price of a coat is $500 and that the price is reduced by $150. Thus, the price is reduced by:

150/500 x 100 = 3/10 x 100 = 30 percent

Answer: E

bimalr9 · Answer

10% of 500 is 50 .

50*3 =150

30% = 150

E.

R2S · Answer

Agreed to all solutions; we can do it by quick math
100% of 500 = 500.0
10% of 500 = 50.0

Now we can apply either additive principle or multiplication one:

If we go with the additive principle:
10%+10%+10% = 30%
50+50+50 = 150

If we do it by the multiplicative principle:
10%*3 = 30%
50*3 = 150.0

Just two different approaches to get to the same answer.

BijayKru · Answer

500 is 100%
1 is 100/500 = 1/5%
150 is = 1/5 * 150 = 30%

Abramo · Answer

I have done it through decomposing the 100% to 1% which is a 5 and divided the discounted price 350 to 5 and got the discount price. Later I have subtracted discounted price from the actual price to get the discount percentage.

GMATinsight · Answer

Answer: Option E

Video solution by  GMATinsight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcqCK_MlnBI

dixxa · Answer

I set mine up differently. I defined it as:

150 is what percent of 500

Which can be translated to:
150 = x/100 (500)
15000/500 = x
30 = x

PriyanshuR · Answer

Cost of Coat = 500$
Cost Reduced by 150$.

Percentage change = (150/500)*100 = 150/5 = 30.

BadukMagician · Answer

$500 OG Price

$150 Reduction

(150/500) = (x/100)

15000/500 = x

30 = x

E) 30%

The price of a coat in a certain store is $500. If the price of the co

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The price of a coat in a certain store is $500. If the price of the co

Prep Toolkit

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