Ukcat

all I can do is work out that it was £145 before VAT

Factor pairs of 145:
1, 145
5, 29

So they either bought 145 leaflets at £1 each or 29 leaflets at £5 each??

Im trying to understand how they have worked this out.
The question is.
VAT is charged at 20% of the total cost. Frank bought some leaflets. The costs including VAT is £174. All leaflets Frank bought are the same. How many leaflets did he buy?

This this table with all the leaflets, and i managed to get 145 without VAT nicely. And the other image is the multiple choices

I think the answer is that he bought 725 single sided black/white leaflets.
This is how I got it but not 100% sure if it is correct:

You know that Frank spent £145 on leaflets before VAT.
The answer you are looking for will not be in the first 2 columns (1-9 & 10-49) as the maximum you would be able to buy * the top price is less than £145.
Going through the rest of the columns:
£145/0.4 = 362.5, which isn't a whole number and therefore can't be an option
This continues for 70p, 80p, £1.40, 30p, 55p and 60p.
£145/£1 = 100 leaflets. However this can't be the answer as 100 does not fit within the boundaries of the column (200-599)
£145/0.2 = 725 leaflets. This is the correct answer as it is a whole number and fits the boundaries (600+).
After checking the last 3, it confirmed that the above is the correct answer.