Question

Mike and Kate plan to save money for their wedding over a 20 month period. They will need to save $8,000 to help pay for the wedding. They set aside the same amount each month. After a year they saved $4,000. Mike and Kate know they must adjust their plan in order to meet their goal, so they came up with the following options:
Option A: Stay with saving the same amount they've been saving each month but postpone the wedding 2 months.
Option B: Increase the amount of money they save each month by $80 from what they've been saving.
Which of the following is a true statement?
a.
Only option A will allow them to meet their goal.
b.
Only option B will allow them to meet their goal.
c.
Saving by either option A or option B will allow them to meet their goal.
d.
Neither option A nor option B will allow them to meet their goal.

Answer 1

Answer: d. Neither option will allow them to meet the $8,000 goal.

Work:
- Monthly amount so far = 4000/12 = 1000/3 ≈ $333.33.
- Option A: continue that monthly amount for 22 months total → total = 22*(1000/3) = 22000/3 ≈ $7,333.33 < $8,000.
- Option B: increase monthly by $80 for the remaining 8 months → new monthly = 1000/3 + 80; total = 4000 + 8*(1000/3 + 80) = 21920/3 ≈ $7,306.67 < $8,000.