<p>Tom and Allie are both salespeople. Tom's weekly compensation consists of $300 plus 20 percent (%) of his sales. Allie's weekly compensation consists of $200 plus 25 percent (%) of her sales. If they both had the same amount of sales and the same compensation for a particular week, what was that compensation in dollars?</p>
<p>This is a CB Question... it was a grid in. I will let you know the answer is not 2000. I will post the answer, but I would like to see the thought process behind this first, as this is one of the few math questions I simply cannot even understand.</p>
<p><em>cracks knuckles</em>
set up an equation
300 + .2X$ = tom's total compensation ($ = money from sales x = multiply)
200 + .25X$ = Allie's total compensation</p>
<p>since both of their total compensations are =, then, you get : </p>
<p>300 + .2X$ = 200 + .25$
100 + .2X$ = .25X$
100 = .05X$
2000 = $
Plug $ back into one of the original equations (doesn't matter which), and you get total compensation = $700.</p>
<p>Plug in X for either side of the equation and you get 700.</p>
<p>Ah, D-Yu, you bastard, beat me to it.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think this is a relatively easy problem. The only tricky part is that you would solve for X and just leave it. But an experienced SAT taker would know to look out for such tricks.</p>
<p>okay... thanks a lot, I kept getting to $2000 and stopping. Why would you plug 2000 back into the equation? I want to now why because if there is a similar problem, I know exactly what to do. Thanks again</p>
<p>$2000 is the amount of sales. That's not what the question asks for.
You're looking for the total compensation. Therefore, plug 2000 back into one of the compensation equations (doesn't matter which since both equals the same) to find out how much tom and allie each get.</p>
<p>Actually it wasn't for most people. It was by far the hardest question on the test, and the math curve for this test was 54 and 53 = 800... so it was indeed rather hard. But I guess you all are extremely good at the math portion. I'm not bad either, I just didn't plug the 2000 back in. Thanks though</p>