GMAT Practice Question: A certain toll station on a highway has 7 tollbooths, and each tollbooth collects 0.75 dollars...
Question
A certain toll station on a highway has 7 tollbooths, and each tollbooth collects 0.75 dollars from each vehicle that passes it. From 6 o'clock yesterday morning to 12 o'clock midnight, vehicles passed each of the tollbooths at the average rate of 4 vehicles per minute. Approximately how much money did the toll station collect during that time period?
- 1,500 dollars
- 3,000 dollars
- 11,500 dollars
- 23,000 dollars
- 30,000 dollars
Topics: word problems, rates, calculations, translations, approximations
Solution
Step 1
We create variables for the number of tollbooths, the toll per vehicle, and the rate of vehicles passing each booth.
B = 7 \text{ booths}
Step 2
We calculate the total number of minutes between 6:00 AM and midnight.
24 - 6 = 18 \text{ hours} 18 \times 60 = 1080 \text{ minutes}
Step 3
We find revenue per minute per booth, then total per booth, then for all booths, and finally round the result.
P = 0.75 \text{ dollars per vehicle} R = 4 \text{ vehicles per minute} P \times R = 0.75 \times 4 = 3 \text{ dollars per minute per booth} 3 \times 1080 = 3240 \text{ dollars per booth} 3240 \times B = 3240 \times 7 = 22680 \text{ dollars} 22680 \approx 23000 \text{ dollars}
Answer
Approximately 23000
