Today’s SAT question of the day is a basic arithmetic question about a florist’s profit.

This florist buys roses for $0.50 each and sells them for $1 each.  We need to figure out how many roses must be sold to make a profit of $300.

First, let’s figure out the profit per rose.

If the roses sell for $1 and cost 50 cents, the profit (the difference between the cost and the sales price) is 50 cents.

So, one rose gives us 50 cents of profit.  We need $300 of profit – so how many roses do we need to get to $300?

$300/$0.50 = 600 roses

A quick shortcut on this one: Once you know that you will be dividing $300 by $0.50, you know that you need a number that begins with a 6 (since 30/5 = 6). Since there’s only one answer choices that begins with a 6, you could feel confident choosing that one and skipping the final arithmetic if you know you will need extra time for other problems.