Question

A store “breaks even” when its sales equal its expenses. Jon has just opened a new surfboard store at the beach. He buys each surfboard wholesaler for Rs.80 and has fixed monthly expenses of Rs.3600. He sells each surfboard for Rs.120. How many surfboards does Jon need to sell in a month to break even?
A.18
B.30
C.45
D.90

Answer 1

Hint: We need to find how many surfboards does Jon need to sell so that it covers his expenses. Given, wholesales price of one surfboard, monthly expenses and the selling price of one surfboard. We use this given data to find the number of surfboards that need to be sold. We take x as the number of surfboards.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Let \[x\] be the number of surfboards Jon sells in a month.
Surfboard wholesales rate is = Rs.80.
Fixed monthly expenses = Rs.3600.
He sells each surfboard for =Rs.120.
Converting the word problem into an algebraic equation.
Given that sales are equal to expanse.
That is, profit = expense.
We know that profit is the difference between selling price and cost price.
Since we don’t know how many surfboards need to be sold. So, we multiply by \[x\] .
 \[ \Rightarrow 120x - 80x = 3600\]
 \[ \Rightarrow 40x = 3600\]
(Divide 40 on both sides)
 \[ \Rightarrow x = \dfrac{{3600}}{{40}}\]
 \[ \Rightarrow x = 90\]
Thus, Jon needs to sell $90$ numbers of surfboards in a month to break even.
So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Note: In above, the wholesale rate is cost price and what he sells refers to selling price. The term break even refers to where the profit is equal to the cost price. Using the definition of simple terms we converted the given word problem into an algebraic equation and solved it for unknown terms to obtain the required answer.