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PCAT Quantitative Reasoning – Newspaper Article Rates

  • by Sam
  • Apr 19, 2018
  • PCAT Question of the Day

Interns at a local newspaper are paid a certain rate for each advice column and political article they publish. Lauren is paid $5710 over the course of her internship for 10 advice columns and 25 political articles. Greg is paid $2490 for 4 opinion pieces and 11 political articles. If Joy exclusively writes political articles, how many will she need to publish to make at least as much as Greg?

A. 12
B. 13
C. 45
D. 206

Click for Explanation

B is correct. First, let’s translate this word problem into mathematical expressions:

L = 10A + 25P = 5710
G = 4A + 11P = 2490

Now let’s isolate A (number of advice columns) and substitute that value back in to solve for P (number of political articles):

10A = 5710 – 25P
A = 571 – 2.5P

4(571 – 2.5P) + 11P = 2490
2284 – 10P + 11P = 2490
P = $206

Therefore, each political article is worth $206. To find out how many articles Joy must publish to make at least as much as Greg, let’s divide $2490 by $206. Remember, we want to round up to the next whole integer.

J = 206x ≥ 2490
x ≥ 12.1
x = 13

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