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Three Prices, and Which One the Percentage Sits On
Every question in this chapter is built from three numbers:
One rule decides most answers: profit and loss percentages are always calculated on CP, while discount percentage is always calculated on MP. Mix those two bases and every later step is wrong, no matter how clean the arithmetic.
So a shop can advertise a 40% discount and still make money. If an item costing ₹100 is marked at ₹200 and sold at 40% off, the customer pays ₹120 — a genuine 40% discount on the tag, and a 20% profit on cost. Nothing dishonest has happened; the two percentages simply measure from different starting points.
1. An article bought for ₹400 is sold for ₹500. What is the profit percent?
2. An article is sold for ₹720 at a profit of 20%. What was its cost price?
3. Successive discounts of 20% and 10% are equivalent to a single discount of
4. An article costing ₹720 is marked at ₹1200 and sold at a discount of 25%. The profit percent is
5. A man sells two articles at the same price. On one he gains 10% and on the other he loses 10%. In the whole transaction he
6. A shopkeeper sells his goods at cost price but uses a weight of 900 g in place of 1 kg. His gain percent is
7. A trader marks his goods 40% above cost price and allows a discount of 25%. His profit percent is
8. By selling an article for ₹450 a man loses 10%. At what price must he sell it to gain 20%?