<p>The postal rate for first-class mail is 41 cents for the first ounce or portion thereof and 17 cents for each additional ounce sor portion thereof up to 3.5 ounces.The cost in cents of first-class postage for a letter weighing N ounces (N≤3.5) is
A.41+[N-1]<em>17
B.[N-41]</em>17
C.41+[N]<em>17
D.1+[N]</em>17
E.none of the above.
the answer choice is C.I can't figure out why it is C.If N=2,the answer is 75.Obviously this is wrong!</p>
<p>The answer is wrong imo.
It should be (A).</p>
<p>41 cents for the first ounce and (N-1)17 cents for the rest.
Total cost=41+(N-1)17 cents.</p>
<p>Where did you get this question from?It could be a misprint.</p>
<p>It’s from barron.I don’t think A can be the answer because if N=2.5,the cost will be 58 and the cost for 0.5 ounce is not included.This[N] is different from (N).[N] represents the largest integer smaller or equal to N.</p>
<p>
How are you able to say 75 is the incorrect value?</p>
<p>I still think (a) is the answer.It is given ‘portion thereof’ meaning the 0.5 is included.It isn’t implied that the absolute value function has to used.</p>
<p>It would be great to have some more opinions here everybody!</p>
<p>I definitely think there’s a mistake in this somewhere. Maybe the test writer thought that of an integer was the next integer down? Then C would work.</p>
<p> is just confusing and I don’t like it. :'(</p>
<p>@perfectpixie
yes,I just use my common sense.Suppose N=2,you pay the 41 cents for 1 ounce,and still you pay 34 cents for 2 ounce.However,the mail only weighs 2 ounces here.Thus,C definitely is incorrect.I doubt A would be the answer,too.Of course, is NOT the same as | |,they don’t mean absolute value.In this question,like you said,‘portion thereof’ means the 0.5 is included,but the square brackets indicate that 0.5 should be rounded to an integer.</p>
<p>@strawbearries
Yeah,I think so. means an integer that is equal or smaller than x.eg,[2.5] will be 2.
I am perplexed now.</p>
<p>Me too.I dont think it’s (c) either.But then…
<em>fumes</em>What’s the answer??</p>
<p>the official answer is C.I talked with several friends who had taken SAT2 math2 before,they said the answer may be E?</p>
<p>Maybe.Why aren’t any of the math whiz’s helping out here??
GUYS COME ON!!! You’re NEEDED here!!</p>
<p>answer is A</p>
<p>N=1
41+17(0)=41</p>
<p>N=2
41+17(1)=58</p>
<p>N=3
41+17(2)=75</p>
<p>It’s stated that you pay 41 cents for 1 ounce. So C cannot be correct because it gives
41+17=58 for the first ounce, which is not stated in the problem.</p>
<p>See? I knew it! This is the kind of problem that I did in 8th grade! <em>does war dance</em>
<em>Furiously tries to delete previous posts schowcasing doubt</em> :)</p>
<p>OP, from where did you get this question?</p>
<p>@mathsciencedude
from barron.btw,eg.N=1.5,choice A will be incorrect</p>
<p>Choice A wouldn’t be incorrect for 1.5. It would be 41 + [0.5]17.
And the 0.5 would get rounded off to 1 using the function. I got it now.</p>
<p>= =.oh my.[0.5] should be rounded to 0…not 1.coz [N]means the result should be an integer equal or less than N…quite confusing,huh?</p>
<p>I think the question is quite ambiguous. could be tahen as the ‘Absolute Value function’ in which case it would be rounded off to 1 or it could be taken as ‘Greatest Integer Function’ in which case it would be taken as zero. Just ignore the question, barrons’s is said to have a lot of typos.</p>
<p>yeah.any way,thank u</p>