If you spend $96 and a book stores sells all of its books

Question

Hey guys can someone help me with the answer to the question attached. I took this test on status prep and I am not able to understand how to reach to the correct answer.

Here is the question -

If you spend $96 and a book stores sells all of its books for the same price, how much does a book currently cost if you could buy 4 more books if the price were to drop $2?
Correct answer: A)
You chose: B)

A) 6
B) 8
C) 12
D) 16
E) 24

bb · Answer

Moving to the PS forum since you will get a better answer/support here. Please post your future Math/Verbal questions in the proper sub-forums.

Thank you!

LazyBoy8 · Answer

If you spend $96 and a book stores sells all of its books for the same price, how much does a book currently cost if you could buy 4 more books if the price were to drop $2?
Correct answer: A)
You chose: B)

A) 6
B) 8
C) 12
D) 16
E) 24

The answer can't possibly be A altho I am a moron and factoring this out is racking my brain. Something is wrong here. Ok if the current price is A or $6 then you can purchase 16 books at a total of $96. If the price per book dropped $2 it would then be a price of $4 a book which would enable you to purchase a total of 24 books (96/4=24 and 24-16=8 NOT 4 as indicated in the questions stem) so unless I am misreading this then something is completely wrong. I agree with your answer of B just based on simple math. I just wanted to respond so you wouldn't sit and think you were wrong. You are definitely right. Now had they asked for the price AFTER the drop of two dollars per unit then I would agree with A. Can you please show me how you factored this out because I am going crazy right now. Forget it I'm an idiot I just realized the error in the way I factored it out. Whew I bet I'll never get one of these types of problems wrong again. Thanks!

Meghnasingla · Answer

Hey thanks a lot for your reply ! Even I tried solving it both way via the equation as well as putting the variable in choice in that equation. And even I arrived at the same answer as you did. I am assuming that the question is wrong unless someone from Stratus Prep and actually comment and explain the right answer. Two of my other friends also tried solving it and they came up with the same answer.
Once again thank u so much

Meghnasingla · Answer

As I review my errors more I get a feeling that that test has some flaws in it. For example one question was repeated twice with restrictions changed but the answer remained same which cannot be the case. Check the attached files. May be someone can help me understand where I am going wrong. Thanks,Meghna

Attachments

Question_1_Reverse.png [ 161.52 KiB | Viewed 2886 times ]

Question_1.png [ 168.2 KiB | Viewed 2893 times ]

fameatop · Answer

Hi Meghna,

Question no 37 is wrong as none of the answer choices contain the right answer choice which is 31/60. Now if you want to rectify the mistake of Q37, you will get Q1  OR  For Q37 to be correct, it should ask " what is the proportion of  WOMEN  to the total group who own car."

I hope it helps.

I feel the quality of stratus prep is very low (Lot of mistakes).

daxmagex · Answer

Hi there. The answer you chose (b) WOULD be right if you ignore the last half. Here are the steps to the problem. x = Amount of Books Purchased p = Price of the Books t = Total Amount spent With this, you can derive these two equations. (x)(p) = 96 (p-2)(x+4) = 96 If you foil the bottom equation, you would get this: px + 4p - 2x - 8 = 96 and since (p)(x) = 96, you plug it in to get: 96 + 4p - 2x - 8 = 96 simplify: 2p - x = 4 single out p to solve for the question: p = (x + 4) / 2 now, you would plug in the answers. BUT. remember the "how much does a book currently cost if you could buy 4 more books if the price were to drop $2?" part of the question? That's telling you that the answer choices are all in the (p-2) format. If you plug it in, you would have to add 2 to the answer choices. With A, it fits perfectly. (6 +2 ) = (x + 4) /2 16 = x + 4 x = 12 p = 8 and now to check: (p)(x)=96 (8)(12)=96 The correct answer is A.

MacFauz · Answer

This is a typical GMAT trick. Please be carefulk while solving for the answer. The question asks for the current price. That is the original price minus the 2 dollars. So when you solve for the original price, you will get the answer as 8. But that price has been dropped by 2$, so the correct answer would be 8-2 = 6$. Which is A

Meghnasingla · Answer

Ah.... got it now. Thanks so much for the explanation !!

Can you guys please help in solving the other two questions as well.

Q1 - If there are twice as many women as men in a group and an equal number of men and women do not own cars - a group that is 30% of the total. What fraction of the total is men who own cars?

Correct answer: B)

A) 3⁄20
B) 11⁄60
C) 9⁄40
D) 1⁄3
E) 11⁄20

Q2 - If there are twice as many men as women in a group and an equal number of men and women do not own cars - a group that is 30% of the total. What fraction of the total is men who own cars?

Correct answer: B)
You chose: B)

A) 3⁄20
B) 11⁄60
C) 9⁄40
D) 1⁄3
E) 11⁄20

MacFauz · Answer

Since the question deals in only fractions, we are free to pick smart numbers. Since I see 30% and 50%(equal number of men and women in a group) I'l choose a number which is divisible by 30 and does not give an odd number when divided by two.( Although any number would work just as well). So I'm picking 60 and lets assume the total number of people in the group is 60.

Create a table as below: I'm just highlighting whatever is given in the question in green (My "smart number" is also in green) Rest is filled in accordingly. Similarly Q2 can also be tackled. Hope it helps.

Men   Women   Total

Car  11 31 42

No Car   9 9 18

Total    20 40 60

If you spend $96 and a book stores sells all of its books

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards