ACT Math : Arithmetic

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for ACT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : How To Find Amount Of Profit

A jewelry designer bought a booth at a local craft fair.  She paid $160 for the booth rental for the day.  Her necklaces cost $10 to make and she sells them for $50 apiece.  If she wants to make at least $1000 profit for the day, how many necklaces must she sell?

Possible Answers:

24

22

29

18

20

Correct answer:

29

Explanation:

Profit on Necklace = Price – Cost = $50 – $10 = $40

Total Profit = # of Necklaces Sold * $40 – Booth Rental Rate

$1000 Profit = # of Necklaces * $40 – $160                          

$1160 = # of Necklaces * $40

# Necklaces = 29

Example Question #3 : How To Find Amount Of Profit

A law firm earned $2,000,000 this year in fees.  If the firm’s annual operating costs are $1,250,000, what is their profit this year?

Possible Answers:

$1,000,000

$2,000,000

$250,000

$1,250,000

$750,000

Correct answer:

$750,000

Explanation:

Profit = Total Fees – Operating Costs = $2,000,000 – $1,250,000 = $750,000

Example Question #2 : Profit Margin

Max bought a book for $10. If he later sold the book at a 25% profit. How much money in total did he receive from the sale of the book?

 

Possible Answers:

$15

$10

$7.50

$12.50

Correct answer:

$12.50

Explanation:

If the book is sold at a profit we know that the sale price is more than what he bought it for.  25% of $10 is $2.50. Therefore the sale price is $10 + $2.50 which is $12.50. It could also be seen as $10 X 1.25 =$12.50

 

Example Question #242 : Arithmetic

Sam was helping his school raise funds to buy books for the library.  He bought small paper pads for $0.75 and sold them for $2.00.  What was the percent mark-up, rounded to the nearest whole number?

Possible Answers:

75%

167%

150%

66%

None of the answers are correct

Correct answer:

167%

Explanation:

$ Mark-Up = $ New Price – $ Original Price

% Mark-Up = $ Mark-Up ÷ $ Original Price

% Mark-Up = (2.00 – 0.75) ÷ 0.75 = 1.67 or 167 %

Example Question #152 : Percentage

Jenny has two jobs.  The first is an office job salaried at $52,000 per year, so she makes the same amount of money every week, no matter how many hours she works.  The second is a bartending job.  She works 6 hours a night, 2 nights a week.  She earns $3.50 per hour plus tips.  If she earned $450 in tips this week, what is the total amount of money she made this week?

Possible Answers:

$1,021

$1,492

$1,000

$1,450

$1,480

Correct answer:

$1,492

Explanation:

Salaried job:

$52,000 / year

1 year = 52 weeks

Therefore: $52,000 / 52 weeks = $1,000.00 per week

Bartending job:

6 hours x $3.50 per hour x 2 nights per week = $42.00

Total Earned = Salaried + Bartending + Tips

= $1,000.00 + $42.00 + $450 = $1,492

Example Question #4 : How To Find Amount Of Profit

A chair company produces 5,000 luxury chairs per year.  Each chair requires $200 in wood and other materials to build.  It also requires 3 hours of work by a craftsman, who earns $30 per hour.  If the company wants to earn $3 million dollars in profit this year, how much should each chair cost?

Possible Answers:

$800

$750

$890

$850

$900

Correct answer:

$890

Explanation:

Total cost of chair = materials + labor = $200 + (3 hours) ($30/hour) = $290

Total cost for 5000 chairs = $290 x 5,000 = $1,450,000

Profit = (5000) x Price per chair – Cost of Chairs

$3,000,000 = (5000) x Price per chair – $1,450,000

$4,450,000 = (5000) x Price per chair

Price per chair = $4,450,000 / 5,000 = $890

Example Question #242 : Arithmetic

A company made  in sales last year.  The company has four employees.  Two of the employees earn  per year, and the other two employees earn  per year.

In addition to employee salaries, the company also pays  a month in rent for its office space and  per month in general expenses.

What was the company's profit last year?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Annual profit = Total Annual Sales – Total Annual Expenses

Total Annual Sales = $400,000

Total Annual Expenses = Salaries + Rent + Expenses

2 employees @ $50,000 = $100,000

2 employees @ $70,000 = $140,000

12 months of rent @ $5,000 = $60,000

12 months of expenses @ $4,000 = $48,000

Total Annual Expenses = $348,000

Annual profit = $400,000– $348,000 = $52,000

Example Question #4 : Profit Margin

Madame buys 5 dozen eggs at 10 cents per egg. She then sells each dozen for 2 dollars. What is her profit margin?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Profit margin is equal to profit / revenue. She bought the eggs for (5)(12)(0.1) = $6 total. She is selling the eggs for (5)(2)=$10 total.

The profit margin is equal to  or 

Example Question #11 : Profit Margin

A bakery sells cupcakes for  per dozen. If it costs  to make each dozen, how much profit would the bakery earn from selling  dozen cupcakes?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The profit that is made is the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent. In this instance, it costs  to make a dozen cupcakes, but the bakery charges  per dozen.

To find the profit for one dozen cupcakes:

To find the profit for ten dozen cupcakes:

Example Question #12 : How To Find Amount Of Profit

It costs a retail store  to purchase a bow tie. If this store sells the bow tie for , what is its profit percentage? Round to the nearest hundredth.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The profit percentage is really just a matter of percent change. We are changing from  to . This is easily computed as:

This is the same as !

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