Sue has only pennies, dimes, and nickels in a jar. The jar has at leas

Question

Sue has only pennies, dimes, and nickels in a jar. The jar has at least 1 but no more than 4 pennies. If the jar has at least 1 nickel and 1 dime, which of the following could NOT be the total amount of money in the jar?

A. 51 cents
B. 53 cents
C. 55 cents
D. 57 cents
E. 59 cents

A. 51 cents
B. 53 cents
C. 55 cents
D. 57 cents
E. 59 cents

TeamGMATIFY · Answer

First of all, we need to understand the conversion between pennies, dimes and nickels.
This might be obvious for the US citizens, but here is the conversion for the others.

1 dime = 10 cents 
1 nickel = 5 cents
1 penny = 1cent

Do not worry, you are not expected to know this conversion on the GMAT.

Given  : The jar has at least 1 but no more than 4 pennies. If the jar has at least 1 nickel and 1 dime
  Required  : Total amount in the jar.

Considering the options:

Option A. 51 cents - 4 dime, 2 nickel, 1 penny
Option B. 53 cents - 4 dime, 2 nickel, 3 penny
Option C. 55 cents -  This is not possible 
Option D. 57 cents - 5 dime, 1 nickel, 2 penny
Option E. 59 cents - 5 dimes, 1 nickel, 4 penny

Correct Option: C

kilotogram · Answer

Let there be a pennies , b nickels and c dimes
so total amount can be 1+5b+10c cents to 4+5b+10c
as you can see the equation of total whenever divided by 5 would leave a remainder from 1 to 4 ( as pennies can only be from 1 to 4 and hence a is limited to values from 1 to 4)
So the total can never be divisible by 5 and hence only 55 that is c is the option which is divisible by 5.

so answer is C

goforgmat · Answer

For a Non US citizen like me i dunno how to approach this question . No idea whats a Nickle ,dime or a penny. Do we need to remember this conversion?

Bunuel · Answer

Penny = 1 cent, nickel = 5 cents, dime = 10 cents.

The question itself will supply the relative conversions such as this one. Though you should have a few basic ones memorized: 1 hour = 60 minutes, ...

Check other  Conversion problems  to practice in  Special Questions Directory .

NamVu1990 · Answer

My approach:

Total money value = (1 x P) + (5 x N) + (10 x D) = P + 5(N+2D) so Total - P = 5(N+2D)
where P, N, D are numbers of penny, nickel, and dimes respectively.

Form the question, P =1,2,3, or 4

So Total - P must be divisible by 5
Check if the answer can minus any of the values of P mentioned above to have a multiple of 5:

A. 51 -1 = 50.
B. 53 - 3 = 50.
C. 55 can't make any multiple of 3 with P. Stop here, this is the answer.

Paulli1982 · Answer

Thanks! This is a great way to solve this problem.

Sent from my iPhone using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

bumpbot · Answer

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Sue has only pennies, dimes, and nickels in a jar. The jar has at leas

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