Hi All,
We're told that United Telephone charges a base rate of $10.00 for service, plus an additional charge of $0.25 per minute. A different company, Atlantic Call, charges a base rate of $12.00 for service, plus an additional charge of $0.20 per minute. We're asked for the number of minutes in which the bills for each telephone company would be the SAME. This question can be solved in a couple of different ways, including by TESTing THE ANSWERS.
Looking at the two billing 'equations', we can see that United Telephone charges MORE per MINUTE, but Atlantic Call has a HIGHER BASE RATE. As such, we have to find the exact number of minutes to compensate for the $2.00 difference in the base rates - and the difference in the per-minute rate is only $0.05 per minute. Many of the answer choices are relatively small, meaning that they couldn't possibly be enough minutes to make up the $2-difference. Thus, we should start by 'TESTing' one of the larger answers first.
Let's TEST Answer D: 40 minutes
40 minutes of United Telephone = $10.00 + (40)($0.25) = $10 + $10 = $20
40 minutes of Atlantic Call = $12.00 + (40)($0.20) = $12 + $8 = $20
These two totals are the SAME, so this MUST be the answer!
Final Answer:
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at: [email protected]