At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruit

Question

At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruits and vegetables, 1/3 on meat products, and 1/10 on bakery products. If he spent the remaining $6 on candy, how much did John spend at the supermarket?

(A) $60
(B) $80
(C) $90
(D) $120
(E) $180

Practice Questions
Question: 15
Page: 154
Difficulty: 600

(A) $60
(B) $80
(C) $90
(D) $120
(E) $180

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

SOLUTION

At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruits and vegetables, 1/3 on meat products, and 1/10 on bakery products. If he spent the remaining $6 on candy, how much did John spend at the supermarket?

(A) $60
(B) $80
(C) $90
(D) $120
(E) $180

Practice Questions
Question: 15
Page: 154
Difficulty: 600

(A) $60
(B) $80
(C) $90
(D) $120
(E) $180

John spent  1-(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{10})=\frac{1}{15}  of his money on candy. Since we are told that he spent $6 on candy, then he spent total of  $6*15=90  at the supermarket.

Answer: C.

SOURH7WK · Answer

x/2+x/3+x/10 = 28x/30

2x/30=6, hence x =90
Ans C.

prasannajeet · Answer

Simply pick number from answer...

80 will be out since not divisible by 3.

Lets try 90..according to question 1/2 of 90= 45, 1/3 of 90=30 and 1/10 of 90=9 then just add all of them i.e 45+30+9=84. Now 90-84=6 left for candy hence 90 will be the answer..

Rgds
Prasannajeet

santas · Answer

Slightly different approach -

Let x be total amount, so

x/2+x/3+x/10+6=x, which turns out to be -
28x+180=30x
So x=90

mandrake15 · Answer

Hello, i don't understand the part of "$6*15=90" can you explain me please? Why 6 its multiplied by 15?

pqhai · Answer

Hello, as Bunuel explained above, John spent 1/15 of his money (remaining of his money) on candy
==> The remaining = 1/15 of his money = $6 
==> total money spent = 15/15 of the remaining = 15*6 = 90

Hope it's clear.

luckyme17187 · Answer

solution...

let x be the money spent..

x/2 +x/3 +x/10 = x-6
taking LCM then

(15x+10x+3x )/30 = x-6

28x=30x-180
x=90

JeffTargetTestPrep · Answer

Solution:

Let's let T = total number of dollars spent at the supermarket. With this variable we can set up an equation and determine T.

We are given that John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruits and vegetables, or (1/2)T, 1/3 on meat products, or (1/3)T, and 1/10 on bakery products, or (1/10)T. We are also given that he spent the remaining $6 on candy. Since we know where all his money was allocated, we can sum these values together and set the sum to T. So we have:

(1/2)T + (1/3)T + (1/10)T + 6 = T

To get rid of the fractions we can multiply the entire equation by 30, and we obtain:

15T + 10T + 3T + 180 = 30T

28T + 180 = 30T

180 = 2T

T = 90

John spent $90 at the supermarket.

Answer: C

Divyadisha · Answer

Total money spent= 1/2x+1/3x+1/10x= 28/30x

Money left = 2/30 or $6

2/30x=6
x= 90
C is the answer

Abhishek009 · Answer

Let total amount be 60x

Money spent on fresh fruits and vegetables = 30x
Money spent on meat products = 20x
Money spent on bakery products = 6x

Total money spent 56x

Money left (4x) = 6

So, x = 1.5

So, total money John had initially is 1.5 x 60 => $90

Hence answer will be $90

govindmalik · Answer

"How can one say, that candy is bought at supermarket only"

Answer 90 is correct when we assume the above statement else answer is 84.

Posted from my mobile device

mtk10 · Answer

can someone give a link to forum on theory of ratios? Experts , mods?

Bunuel · Answer

3. Fractions, Decimals, Ratios and Proportions  
     Theory   
 GMAT Shortcut: Adding to the Numerator and Denominator 
 Rounding Rules on the GMAT: Slip to the Side and Look for a Five! 
 How to Identify Terminating Decimals on the GMAT 
 Rounding Up Some Official GMAT Questions! 
 Terminating Decimals in Data Sufficiency on the GMAT 
 GMAT Quantitative: Ratio and Proportions 
 Ratios in GMAT Data Sufficiency 
 Why You Should Convert Fractions to Decimals on the GMAT 
 Use This Strategy for Fractions and Save Time on GMAT Test Day 
 Variations On The GMAT - All In One Topic 
     Questions   
 Terminating and Recurring Decimals 
 Units digits, exponents, remainders problems 
 DS Questions 
 PS Questions

For more:
 ALL YOU NEED FOR QUANT ! ! ! 
 Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Megathread

Hope it helps.

adkikani · Answer

Bunuel   niks18

I began on wrong note while solving this on my own. Say X- amount he initially had.
I did not interpret Q as At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruits and vegetables, 1/3  of his TOTAL money on meat products , and 1/10  (of his TOTAL money)  on bakery products
and instead did spend/ receive at each stage:
at fruits and veg: spent - X/2 , Remaining - X/2 <- 1 - X/2
at meat - remaining - (X/2), spent X/6
messing the solution.

Can you add your two cents.

niks18 · Answer

Hi, 
Nothing much to add to your query because you read the question wrong. NO where it is mentioned that REMAINING AMOUNT is spent in other items. Hence you will have to work with total amount.

As far as solution is concerned, when you see fractions it is always better to work with smart nos. which is LCM of the fractions.

So let he had 30 to spend (LCM of 2, 3, 10)

So he spent 15+10+3=28

Remaining 2 is equivalent to 6

Hence 30 will be equivalent to 6*30/2=90

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi All,

This question can be solved by TESTing THE ANSWERS.

We know that John has an unknown amount of money, but he spends it in the following way: 
1/2 of the money is spent on fruit and vegetables 
1/3 of the money is spent on meat 
1/10 of the money is spent on bakery products. 
AND then the remaining $6 is spent on candy.

Notice that the answer choices are all integers. Given that the fractions have a common-denominator of 30, the correct answer is likely a multiple of 30. By TESTing one of the two 'middle' multiples of 30 in the answers, we have a good chance of either finding the correct answer or being able to determine if we're 'too big' or 'too small' on the first try and get the correct answer without having to TEST more than one answer.

Let's TEST Answer C: $90

IF the total was $90, then... 
$45 is spent on fruit and vegetables 
$30 is spent on meat 
$9 is spent on bakery products.

45+30+9 = 84 
This leaves 90-84 = $6 which is exactly what the rest of the question states, so this MUST be the answer.

Final Answer:  C

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

LMP · Answer

Let's call the amount of money X; so this is 1/2 of an X, 1/3 of an X, 1/10 of an X, and 6.

So we know that all of these quantities combined are going to be X.
by a 30, to get rid

This is ... 28X + 180 = 30X.

So... 2X = 180. X = 90.

A lot of different ways of going about solving this; correct answer choice is C.

jayshaha · Answer

let his total money be x
so total money he spent =1x/2+1x/3+1x/10=28x/30
he spent his remaining amount 6 meaning x-28x/30=6
2x/30=6
2x=180 x=90

Hoozan · Answer

EducationAisle Bunuel I tried a different method, once used in a similar sum, https://gmatclub.com/forum/of-the-piece ... 48057.html , but couldn't get to the correct answer. Please help me understand where I am going wrong. 1/2 - 50% 1/3 - 33.33% 1/10 - 10% So in total, 93.33% is spent. The remaining 6.67% amounts to $6 So 100% would equate to ? Using the above we don't "exactly" land up with $90.

At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruit

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At a supermarket, John spent 1/2 of his money on fresh fruit

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