Last year, website visits at Site Y were $8\%$ gre... | Free GMAT Practice Question | GMAT Panda

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Question

Last year, website visits at Site Y were 8% greater in February than in January, 12% less in March than in February, 18% greater in April than in March, 14% less in May than in April, and 7% greater in June than in May. In which month were visits closest to the visits in January?

Answer Choices

A. $February$
B. $March$
C. $April$
D. $May$
E. $June$

Steps

Explanation	Calculations	Help
$We name the visits variables for each month to avoid ambiguity.$	$Jan = visits in January Feb = visits in February Mar = visits in March Apr = visits in April May = visits in May Jun = visits in June$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-A Click to view full details
$We translate "8\% greater in February than in January" into a multiplication factor.$	$Feb = 1.08 \times Jan$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "12\% less in March than in February" into a multiplication factor.$	$Mar = 0.88 \times Feb$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "18\% greater in April than in March" into a multiplication factor.$	$Apr = 1.18 \times Mar$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "14\% less in May than in April" into a multiplication factor.$	$May = 0.86 \times Apr$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "7\% greater in June than in May" into a multiplication factor.$	$Jun = 1.07 \times May$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We express each month's visits as a multiple of January visits by chaining the factors and apply rounding for simplicity.$	$Feb = 1.08 \times Jan Mar = 0.88 \times (1.08 \times Jan) = 0.9504 \times Jan \approx 0.95 \times Jan Apr = 1.18 \times (0.9504 \times Jan) = 1.1215 \times Jan \approx 1.12 \times Jan May = 0.86 \times (1.1215 \times Jan) = 0.9645 \times Jan \approx 0.96 \times Jan Jun = 1.07 \times (0.9645 \times Jan) = 1.032 \times Jan \approx 1.03 \times Jan$	Theory & Tactics Method Card CALC1-B Click to view full details
$We calculate the absolute deviation of each month's factor from 1 (January) to find which is smallest.$	$∣1.08 - 1.00∣ = 0.08 ∣0.9504 - 1.00∣ = 0.0496 \approx 0.05 ∣1.1215 - 1.00∣ = 0.1215 \approx 0.12 ∣0.9645 - 1.00∣ = 0.0355 \approx 0.04 ∣1.032 - 1.00∣ = 0.032$
$We see that June's deviation (0.032) is the smallest, so visits in June are closest to January's.$	$June has the smallest deviation (0.032)$

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Final Answer

E

Question

Last year, website visits at Site Y were 8% greater in February than in January, 12% less in March than in February, 18% greater in April than in March, 14% less in May than in April, and 7% greater in June than in May. In which month were visits closest to the visits in January?

Answer Choices

A. $February$
B. $March$
C. $April$
D. $May$
E. $June$

Steps

Explanation	Calculations	Help
$We name the visits variables for each month to avoid ambiguity.$	$Jan = visits in January Feb = visits in February Mar = visits in March Apr = visits in April May = visits in May Jun = visits in June$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-A Click to view full details
$We translate "8\% greater in February than in January" into a multiplication factor.$	$Feb = 1.08 \times Jan$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "12\% less in March than in February" into a multiplication factor.$	$Mar = 0.88 \times Feb$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "18\% greater in April than in March" into a multiplication factor.$	$Apr = 1.18 \times Mar$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "14\% less in May than in April" into a multiplication factor.$	$May = 0.86 \times Apr$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "7\% greater in June than in May" into a multiplication factor.$	$Jun = 1.07 \times May$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We express each month's visits as a multiple of January visits by chaining the factors and apply rounding for simplicity.$	$Feb = 1.08 \times Jan Mar = 0.88 \times (1.08 \times Jan) = 0.9504 \times Jan \approx 0.95 \times Jan Apr = 1.18 \times (0.9504 \times Jan) = 1.1215 \times Jan \approx 1.12 \times Jan May = 0.86 \times (1.1215 \times Jan) = 0.9645 \times Jan \approx 0.96 \times Jan Jun = 1.07 \times (0.9645 \times Jan) = 1.032 \times Jan \approx 1.03 \times Jan$	Theory & Tactics Method Card CALC1-B Click to view full details
$We calculate the absolute deviation of each month's factor from 1 (January) to find which is smallest.$	$∣1.08 - 1.00∣ = 0.08 ∣0.9504 - 1.00∣ = 0.0496 \approx 0.05 ∣1.1215 - 1.00∣ = 0.1215 \approx 0.12 ∣0.9645 - 1.00∣ = 0.0355 \approx 0.04 ∣1.032 - 1.00∣ = 0.032$
$We see that June's deviation (0.032) is the smallest, so visits in June are closest to January's.$	$June has the smallest deviation (0.032)$

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Final Answer

E