1992 AJHSME Problems/Problem 21

Problem

Northside's Drum and Bugle Corps raised money for a trip. The drummers and bugle players kept separate sales records. According to the double bar graph, in what month did one group's sales exceed the other's by the greatest percent?

[asy] unitsize(12); fill((2,0)--(2,9)--(3,9)--(3,0)--cycle,lightgray); draw((3,0)--(3,9)--(2,9)--(2,0)); draw((2,7)--(1,7)--(1,0)); draw((2,8)--(3,8)); draw((2,7)--(3,7)); for (int a = 1; a <= 6; ++a) { draw((1,a)--(3,a)); } fill((5,0)--(5,3)--(6,3)--(6,0)--cycle,lightgray); draw((6,0)--(6,3)--(5,3)--(5,0)); draw((5,3)--(5,5)--(4,5)--(4,0)); draw((4,4)--(5,4)); draw((4,3)--(5,3)); draw((4,2)--(6,2)); draw((4,1)--(6,1)); fill((8,0)--(8,6)--(9,6)--(9,0)--cycle,lightgray); draw((9,0)--(9,6)--(8,6)--(8,0)); draw((8,6)--(8,9)--(7,9)--(7,0)); draw((7,8)--(8,8)); draw((7,7)--(8,7)); draw((7,6)--(8,6)); for (int a = 1; a <= 5; ++a) { draw((7,a)--(9,a)); } fill((11,0)--(11,12)--(12,12)--(12,0)--cycle,lightgray); draw((12,0)--(12,12)--(11,12)--(11,0)); draw((11,9)--(10,9)--(10,0)); draw((11,11)--(12,11)); draw((11,10)--(12,10)); draw((11,9)--(12,9)); for (int a = 1; a <= 8; ++a) { draw((10,a)--(12,a)); } fill((14,0)--(14,10)--(15,10)--(15,0)--cycle,lightgray); draw((15,0)--(15,10)--(14,10)--(14,0)); draw((14,8)--(13,8)--(13,0)); draw((14,9)--(15,9)); draw((14,8)--(15,8)); for (int a = 1; a <= 7; ++a) { draw((13,a)--(15,a)); } draw((16,0)--(0,0)--(0,13),black); label("Jan",(2,0),S);  label("Feb",(5,0),S); label("Mar",(8,0),S); label("Apr",(11,0),S); label("May",(14,0),S); label("$\textbf{MONTHLY SALES}$",(8,14),N); label("S",(0,8),W); label("A",(0,7),W); label("L",(0,6),W); label("E",(0,5),W); label("S",(0,4),W); draw((4,12.5)--(4,13.5)--(5,13.5)--(5,12.5)--cycle); label("Drums",(4,13),W); fill((15,12.5)--(15,13.5)--(16,13.5)--(16,12.5)--cycle,lightgray); draw((15,12.5)--(15,13.5)--(16,13.5)--(16,12.5)--cycle); label("Bugles",(15,13),W);[/asy]

$\text{(A)}\ \text{Jan}\qquad\text{(B)}\ \text{Feb}\qquad\text{(C)}\ \text{Mar}\qquad\text{(D)}\ \text{Apr}\qquad\text{(E)}\ \text{May}$

Solution

The ratio of the sales of the group with more sales and the sales of the group with less sales is largest in $\boxed{\text{(B)}\ \text{Feb}}$ which is $5/3 \approx 1.67$.


See Also

1992 AJHSME (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 20
Followed by
Problem 22
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All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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