GMAT Word Problems Explained — To order certain plants from a catalog, it costs 3.00USD per plant,

To order certain plants from a catalog, it costs 3.00USD per plant, plus a 5 percent sales tax, plus 6.95USD for shipping and handling regardless of the number of plants ordered. If Company C ordered these plants from the catalog at the total cost of 69.95USD, how many plants did Company C order?

word problemslinear equationspercentagesrevenue/costtranslations

Explanation	Calculations	Help
$We first define an unknown for the number of plants Company C ordered.$	$P = number of plants ordered by Company C$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-A Click to view full details
$We translate "plus a 5 percent sales tax" into multiplying the plant cost by 1.05.$	$1.05 \times 3.00 P$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-D Click to view full details
$We translate "plus 6.95USD for shipping and handling" into adding 6.95 and "at the total cost of 69.95USD" into an equality.$	$1.05 \times 3.00 P + 6.95 = 69.95$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-C Click to view full details Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-B Click to view full details
$We simplify the multiplication by distributing the tax and combining like terms.$	$3.15 P + 6.95 = 69.95$
$We subtract 6.95 from both sides to isolate the term with P .$	$3.15 P = 63.00$	Theory & Tactics Method Card EQUA1-A Click to view full details
$We divide both sides by 3.15 to solve for P .$	$P = \frac{63.00}{3.15} = 20$	Theory & Tactics Method Card EQUA1-A Click to view full details

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Company C ordered 20 plants, so the answer is 20 (Option C).