Revenues were recorded for Store A and Store B over a period of three months. In the first month, Store A's revenues were $60,000 higher than Store B's revenues. In the second month, Store A's revenues were $9,000 higher than Store B's revenues. If Store A's average (arithmetic mean) monthly revenue for the three months was $4,000 greater than Store B's average monthly revenue, then Store B's revenue in the third month was how much greater than Store A's revenue? Choose the correct option:  A) $14,000  B) $15,000  C) $42,000  D) $46,000  E) $57,000
Answer: CIt may be tempting to come up with a lot of variables, one each for each month's revenue for each company. However, focus on the differences. In the first month, the difference was +60 in favor of A. (Note that we can drop the thousands since every number in the question is in terms of thousands.) In the second, the difference was +9 in favor of A. The average was +4 in favor of A. With these numbers, use the average formula to find the third month (T):   (60 + 9 + T)/3 = 4   69 + T = 12   T = -57   Since positive numbers indicate a difference in favor of A, negative numbers are in favor of B. -57 represents a $57,000 advantage in favor of Store B. Choice ($57,000) is correct.
<result>E</result>
Revenues were recorded for Store A and Store B over a period of three months. In the first month, Store A's revenues were $60,000 higher than Store B's revenues. In the second month, Store A's revenues were $9,000 higher than Store B's revenues. If Store A's average (arithmetic mean) monthly revenue for the three months was $4,000 greater than Store B's average monthly revenue, then Store B's revenue in the third month was how much greater than Store A's revenue?