Carcass wrote:
David used part of $100,000 to purchase a house. Of the remaining portion, he invested 1/3 of it at 4 percent simple annual interest and 2/3 of it at 6 percent simple annual interest. If after a year the income from the two investments totaled $320, what was the purchase price of the house?
(A) $96,000
(B) $94,000
(C) $88,000
(D) $75,000
(E) $40,000
STRATEGY: Upon reading any GRE Multiple Choice question, we should always ask, Can I use the answer choices to my advantage?
In this case, we can easily test the answer choices.
Now let's give ourselves up to 20 seconds to identify a faster approach.
In this case, we can also solve the question algebraically. However, since I can already see we can immediately eliminate two answer choices, I know that I need only test ONE answer choice.
So I'm going to start testing answer choicesFirst recognize that the correct answer can't be A or D. Here's why:
If the correct answer were choice A ($96,000), then David invested the remaining $4000, which means he invested 1/3 of $4000 at an interest rate of 4% and 2/3 of $4000 at an interest rate of 6%.
The problem is that $4000 isn't divisible by 3.
So, for example, 1/3 of $4000 = $1333.33333...., which means David invested $1333 and
one-third of a penny at 4%.
Since we can't invest one-third of a penny, answer choice A is disqualified.
We can apply the same logic to eliminate answer choice D.
Of the remaining three answer choices (B, C and E), I'll test the middle answer...
(C) $88,000If David spent $88,000 of his $100,000 on his house, then he invested the remaining
$12,0001/3 of
$12,000 is $4000, which means David invested $4000 at a 4% simple interest rate, which means the interest after 1 year = 4% of $4000 =
$1602/3 of
$12,000 is $8000, which means David invested $8000 at a 6% simple interest rate, which means the interest after 1 year = 6% of $8000 =
$480So, the TOTAL income from the two investments =
$160 +
$480 =
$640The question tells us that the total income from the two investments is
$320, which means we can eliminate choice C.
Also, since we want the total income to be LESS THAN $640, we need David to invest less than
$12,000.
In other words, we need the house price to be greater than $88,000, which means we can also eliminate answer choice E.
By the process of elimination, the correct answer must be B.
Answer: B