GRE Prep Club Team Member
Joined: 20 Feb 2017
Posts: 2508
Given Kudos: 1053
GPA: 3.39
Re: A watch dealer has a total of N watches in his stock on Monday. He sol
[#permalink]
17 Apr 2023, 00:24
Let's follow the given information step by step to determine the value of N.
On Monday, the watch dealer had N watches in stock.
On Tuesday, the dealer sold half of the stock of watches, which would be N/2 watches.
However, on Wednesday, 15 of the sold watches were returned. So, the total number of watches in stock after the returns would be N/2 + 15.
On Thursday, the number of watches in stock is given as N - 28.
According to the given information, N - 28 is equal to N/2 + 15, since the number of watches in stock on Thursday is equal to the number of watches in stock after returns on Wednesday.
Now we can solve for N:
N - 28 = N/2 + 15
Multiplying both sides by 2 to eliminate the fraction:
2(N - 28) = N + 30
Expanding the left-hand side:
2N - 56 = N + 30
Subtracting N from both sides:
N - 56 = 30
Adding 56 to both sides:
N = 30 + 56
N = 86
So, the value of N, which represents the total number of watches in stock on Monday, is 86.