SAT Question of the Day #16

At a certain flower shop, the price of a tulip is half the average price of the other seven types of flowers sold at the shop.  If the price of one tulip is $2, what is the price of a bouquet containing exactly one of each of the types of flowers sold at the shop?

A.  $28
B.  $30
C.  $14
D.  $7
E.  $34

The answer is:  B $30

How do you get to this answer?  You cannot calculate the exact prices of the other flowers.  You only need the sum of those prices – which you can find from the information given to you in the question.  If a tulip is $2, then the average cost of the seven other types of flowers is $4 each.  So a bouquet of 8 flowers would have one  (the tulip) that costs $2 and seven others that cost a total of 7 x $4 = $28.  The total cost of the bouquet is then $28 + $2 = $30.