Last Updated on May 10, 2023
GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE DS
Solution:
We must determine by what percent the price of a television set was discounted.
Statement One Alone:
The price of the television set before it was discounted for the sale was 25 percent greater than the discounted price.
Using the information in statement one we can create the following equation in which x = the original price of the television set and y = the discounted price of the television set:
x = 1.25y
x = (5/4)y
(4/5)x= y
0.8x = y
We see that the discounted price of the television is 80 percent of the original price. Thus, the television was discounted by 20 percent. Statement one alone is sufficient to answer the question. We can eliminate answer choices B, C and E.
Statement Two Alone:
The price of the television set was discounted by $60 for the sale.
The information in statement two does not give us enough information to determine the percentage of the discount. For example, the percent of discount would be different had the price of the television set been discounted from $300 to $240 as opposed to the price being discounted from $600 to $540. For the former, it is a 20% discount and for the latter, it is a 10% discount.
Answer: A
