Brian purchased a bouquet of 40 flowers for his mother for her birthda

Question

Brian purchased a bouquet of 40 flowers for his mother for her birthday. If roses cost $1.50 and tulips cost $1.00, and he spent $48 in total buying only those two types of flowers, how many tulips were in the bouquet?

A. 12
B. 16
C. 20
D. 24
E. 28

A. 12
B. 16
C. 20
D. 24
E. 28

BrentGMATPrepNow · Accepted Answer

Here's an approach that involves  1 variable :

Let  t  = # of tulips in bouquet
So.  40 - t  = # of roses in bouquet

So, ( $1.00 )( t ) = the total COST of all t tulips
And ( $1.50 )( 40 - t ) = the total COST of all 40-t roses

We're told the bouquet costs $48.
So, we can write: ( $1.00 )( t ) + ( $1.50 )( 40 - t ) = 48
Expand: t + 60 - 1.5t = 48
Simplify: 60 - 0.5t = 48
Subtract 60 from both sides: -0.5t = -12
Solve: t = 24

Answer: D

Cheers,
Brent

theHermes5 · Answer

Can you please double check the question? Should we find roses or tulips since the question says roses tulips? If it's roses then the answer is 16 and tulips would be 24.

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Luckisnoexcuse · Answer

With the help of answer choices 16 roses and 24 tulips

Bunuel · Answer

Yes, we should find the number of tulips. Edited. Thank you.

Bounce1987 · Answer

3R+2T=96
R+T=40
plugin, answer D

pushpitkc · Answer

Let the roses Brian purchased be R
Let the tulips he purchased be T

R + T = 40
1.5R + T = 48

Since we have been asked to find the number of tulips in the bouquet,
R = 40 - T can be substituted in 1.5R + T = 48
1.5(40 - T) + T = 48
60 - 48 - 1.5T + T = 0
 T = 24(Option D)

Mo2men · Answer

Another approach

Average price of the a flower = 48 /40 = 12/10 =1.2

If there is equal amount of tulip and roses then average would be 1.25. Hence it means that there are tulip more roses.

Eliminate A, B & C

We can check any choice. I will choose D =24 tulip

1.5 * 16 + 1 * 24 = 24 + 24 = 48

Answer: D

septwibowo · Answer

1. R + T = 40
2. 1,5 R + T = 48
3. Solve 2 equations, we get R = 16 and T = 26.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

We can let the number of tulips = t and the number of roses = r and create the following equations:

t + r = 40

t = 40 - r

and

1.5r + t = 48

Thus:

1.5r + 40 - r = 48

0.5r = 8

r = 16

So, t = 40 - 16 = 24.

Answer: D

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi All,

We're told that Brian purchased a bouquet of 40 flowers for his mother for her birthday; roses cost $1.50 each and tulips cost $1.00 each , and he spent $48 in total buying only those two types of flowers. We're asked for the number of tulips that he bought. This question can be solved in a variety of ways; it's essentially a Weighted Average question, so you can use a little logic and a bit of math to find the correct answer.

IF... we had an EQUAL number of roses and tulips, then the AVERAGE cost of the flowers would be $1.25 and the TOTAL cost would be (40)($1.25) = $50.

We're told that the total cost was $48 though - and that's a bit less than $50 - so there are just slightly more of the $1 flowers (the tulips) than there are of the roses. Thus, a little more than half of the 40 flowers would be tulips. There's only one answer that's a little more than 20...

Final Answer:  D

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

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Brian purchased a bouquet of 40 flowers for his mother for her birthda

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Brian purchased a bouquet of 40 flowers for his mother for her birthda

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