A retail outlet purchased 400 printers at a list price of $80 less 6%, 3%. The Gross Profit Margin on the printers was 50%. After selling 50% of the shipment, the rest of the printers were marked down to a reduced selling price. When there were only 30 printers left, the outlet marked these down to $51.99. To maintain an average Gross Profit Margin of 35%, what must have been the reduced price of the printers?

what in the world? please help

Gross Profit Margin= Total Sales/total cost

Total cost was 400*80 (1-.06)

Sales= 200*160 + 170*RDS + 30*51.99

Set Gross profit margin = total sales/cos

solve for RDS

i appreciate the quick response, however it still makes no sense to me.. :(

I apologize if the explanation was confusing. Let me break it down step by step to help you understand.

First, let's calculate the total cost of purchasing the printers. The retail outlet bought 400 printers at a list price of $80 each, with a discount of 6%. To calculate the total cost, we need to subtract 6% from $80 and multiply it by the number of printers (400).

Total Cost = (Number of Printers * List Price * (1 - Discount %))
Total Cost = 400 * $80 * (1 - 0.06)

Next, we need to calculate the sales amount. The retail outlet sold 50% of the printers at full price and the remaining printers at a reduced selling price.

Sales = (Number of Printers Sold at Full Price * Full Price) + (Number of Printers Sold at Reduced Price * Reduced Price) + (Number of Printers Left * Final Marked Down Price)
Sales = (200 * $80) + (170 * RDS) + (30 * $51.99)

Now, let's express the gross profit margin formula:

Gross Profit Margin = Total Sales / Total Cost

Since we want to maintain an average gross profit margin of 35%, we can set up the equation:

0.35 = Sales / Total Cost

Now, we can solve for the reduced price of the printers (RDS) in order to maintain the desired gross profit margin.

I hope this explanation clarifies the steps involved in solving the problem. If you have any further questions, please let me know.