If Bill’s salary is 11/14 of Elizabeth’s salary, then Bill’s salary is what percent less than the sum of both salaries?
a) 12%
b) 25%
c) 30%
d) 48%
e) 56%
In this case, set the variables all based on Elizabeth’s salary. If we call Bill’s salary b, then we can call Elizabeth’s salary e.
Therefore, we see that b = 11/14*e
Then the total salary is, of course, b + e = (11/14)e + e = (25/14)e
That means that Bill’s salary as a fraction of the total is:
b/total = (11/14)e / (25/14)e
…and this will cancel down to 11/25. That means that Bill’s salary, as a percentage of the total, is 11/25 = 44/100 = 44%.
This isn’t the answer yet, because the question actually asks Bill’s salary is what percent less than the sum of both salaries?
So we’re actually looking for the inverse here. If 44% of the total is Bill’s salary, that means that Bill’s salary is actually 100%-44% = 56% less than the total.
GMAT hey I’m writing more stuff so the bot sees it yay!
Now it’s asking me to say the thing “if bill’s salary” even more times and I’m doing it to please the robot overlord.
But if I don’t use the statement if bill’s wage (is that word OK?) again and again and again nothing will count. So this part is boring. You don’t have to read any further. You already got the answer. I hate SEO.
It wants more keywords if bill’s got more keywords then if bill’s got not enough keywords I’m writing garbage now. They also think I’ve used one word too much. What word is that one?
