SAT Math : SAT Mathematics
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Math
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Example Questions
Example Question #161 : Percentage
The price of a coffeemaker has been marked down 20% for a clearance sale. Tom buys the coffeemaker with a $10.00 coupon and pays $134.44. Give the price of the coffeemaker before the markdown and excluding the coupon.
A coupon is applied to the sale price of an item, so the first deduction is the clearance markdown.
Let 
The coupon takes $10 off the price, so the coffeemaker sells for
Solving for 
the correct response is
Example Question #161 : Percentage
A two-liter bottle of Zippy Zuppy soda costs $1.39. However, as part of a promotion to mark its sixteenth anniversary, if ten or more bottles are purchased, the store is offering a savings of 16%.
Floyd purchases six two-liter bottles of Zippy Zuppy cola, four two-liter bottles of Zippy Zuppy ginger ale, and two two-liter bottles of Zippy Zuppy orange soda. After a sales tax of 6.5%, how much will Floyd pay for the soda (nearest cent)?
Floyd purchases 
The amount of the discount is 16% of this, or (rounding to the nearest cent)
making the price before tax
The sales tax is 6.5% of this, or (again, rounding to the nearest cent)
Add this:
the amount Floyd pays.
Example Question #163 : Percentage
The price of a pair of shoes after a 15% clearance discount and a 20% employee discount is $113.74.
Give the price of the shoes before the two discounts (nearest cent).
Call the price of the shoes before the two discounts 
A subsequent reduction in price by 20%, which is the employee discount, is
Set this quantity equal to the price of the shoes after the two discounts, $113.74, and solve for 
To the nearest hundredth:
The price of the shoes before the discounts was $167.26.
Example Question #164 : Percentage
Katy buys jeans that is on sale for $84. The tag says that the price was originally $142. What discount is she receiving on the shirt? Round to the nearest tenth of a percent.
None of the other answer options.
Use proportions and cross-multiply to find the percentage of the cost that she is paying, then subtract that answer from the original price to solve for the discount.
If she is paying 59.2% of the regular cost, then subtract that figure from 100%.
100% - 59.2% = 40.8%
You could also set up the proportion so that you could arrive at the answer after cross-multiplying by subtracting 84 from 142 as the first step.
Example Question #1211 : Sat Mathematics
A sunglasses kiosk at the mall makes a $50 profit for every 6 pairs of sunglasses it sells. How many pairs of sunglasses must it sell to earn $1000 profit?
30
120
20
300
100
120
Divide the profit per 6 pairs into the total desired profit $1000/$50 = 20.
Multiply 20 by 6 sunglasses = 120 sunglasses. Or use 6/50 = x/1000 and solve for x.
Example Question #1 : Profit Margin
Ricky works at a shoe shop, and earns $40 in commission for each pair of shoes he sells plus a $100 weekly salary. If Ricky receives no other money, which of the following expressions represents the total dollar amount Ricky receives for a week in which he sells n shoes?
40(100 + n)
100 + n
140n
140 + n
100 + 40n
100 + 40n
If Ricky sells n shoes in a week, he earns $40n in commission. His salary is a constant $100 per week, so his total payout is $100 + $40n.
Example Question #3 : Profit Margin
An entrepreneur started a company making floggles. The factory requires $1000 worth of fixed expenses to keep it running every month. She is able to produce one floggle at the cost of $4 and sell one floggle at the cost of $6. If she produces and sells 500 floggles in one month, what is her profit?
$1000
$2000
$4000
$3000
$0
$0
Profit = Income - Expenditures
Income = $6/floggle times 500 floggles = $3000
Expenditures = $1000 + $4/floggle times 500 floggles = $1000 + $2000 = $3000
Profit = 3000 - 3000 = 0
Example Question #1 : Profit Margin
You are planning a New Year’s Eve bash. For each person attending, the caterer will charge you $15 for food, $10 for beverages, $5 for service. The band charges $2000 for the entire evening. You also have to pay the venue $2500 to rent the location for the night and $3 for parking for each attendee. If you expect 500 people to attend and you would like to make a $10000 profit for planning the event, how much must each ticket cost?
$60
$33
$42
$53
$62
$62
First determine total cost.
Caterer: Per person = $15 + $10 + $5 = $30 per person
Parking: Per person = $3 per person
Total per person = $33
$33 * 500 people = $16,500
Plus cost of renting venue + band = $2500 + $2000 = $4500
Total (net) cost = $16,500 + $4500 = $21,000
Total (gross) cost = net cost + profit = $21,000 + $10,000 = $31,000
Cost per ticket = Gross cost / # of attendee = $31,000 / 500 = $62
Example Question #2 : Profit Margin
The Widget Company has annual revenues of $150,000. Their expenses over the same time frame was $75,000. What was the percent profit?
30%
75%
50%
60%
25%
50%
Profit = Revenue – Expense
% Profit = $ Profit ÷ $ Total Revenue
% Profit = ($150,000 – $75,000) ÷ $150,000 = 50%
Example Question #3 : Profit Margin
Nicki sold 20 albums at $5 each. How many albums should Minaj sell at $4.50 to earn more than Nicki?
22
24
19
23
25
23
The answer is 23. 23*$4.50 = $103.50, which is more than what Nicki earned.
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