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555-605 (Medium)|   Percent and Interest Problems|                        
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required answer = [employee benefit/profit] *100
=[(230.10 million)/(115.19 billion)]*100
=[(230.10*10^6)/(115.19*10^9)]*100
=(2/1000)*100
=0.2%

So answer is (E)
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\(\frac{230.10 * 10^6}{115.19 * 10^9} * 100\)

\(= \frac{2}{10} = 0.2%\)

Answer = E
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Bunuel
The Official Guide For GMAT® Quantitative Review, 2ND Edition

A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%

We can create the following expression:

230,100,000/115,190,000,000

(2,301)/(1,151,900) ≈ 2,000/1,000,000 = 2/1,000 = 0.002 = 0.2%

Answer: E
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Bunuel
The Official Guide For GMAT® Quantitative Review, 2ND Edition

A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%

Problem Solving
Question: 101
Category: Arithmetic Percents; Estimation
Page: 74
Difficulty: 550

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If 1 million is 0.1% of 1 billion then 115 million would be 0.1% of 115 Billion. Thus, 230 million would be 0.2% of 115 billion.

Answer E.
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Bunuel
A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%

\(\frac{230.10}{(115.19*1000)}*100 = 0.2\), Answer must be (E)
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Hi,

230*10^6 / 115*10^9 = 2*10^6-9 = 2*10^-3
Now, we have to express our result in percent : 2*10^-3/10^2 = 2*10^-1 = 0,2%

Answer E)
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Bunuel
A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%

Why aren't we just glancing at the answer choices on a question like this?

230,000,000/115,000,000,000

Cross out seven zeroes from the top and bottom.

23/11,500

Is that more than 1% or less than 1%? Less than 1%.

Answer choice E.
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Bunuel
A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%

Why aren't we just glancing at the answer choices on a question like this?

230,000,000/115,000,000,000

Cross out seven zeroes from the top and bottom.

23/11,500

Is that more than 1% or less than 1%? Less than 1%.

Answer choice E.
Yes, great solution and strategy to use the answer choices.

Here's another explanation below, rounding and converting billions to millions (1 billion = 1,000 million), so that we have:
200 million/100,000 million * 100% = 0.2%
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Employee benefits = $230.10 million
Profits = $115.19 billion

First, let's convert the profits from billion to million:
$115.19 billion = $115.19 billion * $1 billion/$1 million = $115,190 million

Now we can calculate the percentage:
Percentage = (Employee benefits / Profits) * 100
Percentage = ($230.10 million / $115,190 million) * 100
Percentage ≈ 0.1999%

Rounded to the nearest percent, the employee benefits represent approximately 0.2% of the profits.

Therefore, the answer is (E) 0.2%.
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Video solution here:

 
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There is no need to solve for the actual value
What is asked is (employee benefits)/(profits) * 100

employee benefits is in millions
profit is in billions

numerator is smaller than the denominator, the fraction will obviously be less than 1.
Only option E satisfies that

Special mention to BrentGMATPrepNow, going through your solutions helped me optimize my strategy.

Cheers.

Bunuel
A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%
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Bunuel
A corporation that had $115.19 billion in profits for the year paid out $230.10 million in employee benefits. Approximately what percent of the profits were the employee benefits? (Note: 1 billion = 10^9)

(A) 50%
(B) 20%
(C) 5%
(D) 2%
(E) 0.2%





Nick Slavkovich, GMAT/GRE tutor with 20+ years of experience

[email protected]
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