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QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE

3 PROFIT & LOSS

1. Cost Price: The amount, at which an article is purchased or manufactured is known as its cost
price. The cost price is abbreviated as C.P.

2. Selling Price: The price at which an article is sold, is known as its selling price. The selling
price is abbreviated as S.P.

3. Profit = Selling price – Cost price (Profit = S.P. – C.P.)

Note: Profit is generated, when

Selling price > Cost price

4. Loss = Cost price – Selling price (Loss = C.P. – S.P.)

Note: Loss is incurred, when

Cost price > Selling price

(Selling price − Cost price )  100

5. Profit percent =
Cost price

(Cost price − Selling price )  100

6. Loss percent =
Cost price

Example 1.A person purchased a vehicle for Rs. 5,90,828 and sold it for Rs. 6,52,920. What is the
profit per cent he earned on this vehicle (correct to two decimal places)?

Solution:

Cost price of vehicle = Rs 590828

Selling price of vehicle = Rs 652920

Since SP > CP

Here, Gain = 652920 – 590828 = 62092

62092
Gain %:  100 = 10.51%
590828

Example 2.The difference between cost price and selling price is Rs 221. If profit percentage is
17%, then what is the selling price (in Rs)?

Solution:

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Profit = Difference of SP and CP

Profit = 221 (as given)
Profit
Profit % =  100
CP

221
17 =  100
CP

CP = 1300
SP = CP + Profit
SP = 1300+221
SP = 1521
Hence, option C is the correct answer.

7. If there is a profit of P % and Cost Price = CP, then

 P 
SP = CP 1 + 
 100 

8. If there is a loss of L % and Cost Price = CP, then

 P 
SP = CP 1 − 
 100 

Example 3.Selling price of a fan is Rs 4644. If profit percentage is 29%, then what is the cost price
(in Rs) of fan?

Solution:

Selling price = Cost Price + Profit

Profit is calculated on Cost Price
Given Profit = 29% of CP
So, SP = 129% of CP
4644 = 129% of CP

100% of CP =
=3600
Hence, option D is the correct option

9. A dishonest shopkeeper claims to sell his goods at cost price, but he uses a false weight (Lesser
weight), then

True weight − False weight

his profit percent =  100
False weight

10. A dishonest shopkeeper sells an item at a price x% higher and uses a false weight (Lesser weight),
then

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%hike in price
True weight(1 + ) − False weight
his profit percent = 100  100
False weight

Example 4:
A shopkeeper sells the goods at 50% loss on cost price but uses 35% less weight. What is his
percentage profit or loss?

Solution:
Given, x = -50, y = 35

35 − 50
Over percentage gain or loss =  100 = − 23.07%
100 − 35
Which represents loss being a negative expression.

Example 5:
A cloth merchant says that due to recession in the market, he sells the cloth at 20% loss, but he
uses a false metre-scale and actually gain 20%. Find the actual length of the scale.

Solution:

True Scale 100 + gain%

=
False scale 100 − Loss%

100 100 + 20
=
False scale 100 − 20
False Scale = 66.67 cm

Example 6:
A dishonest dealer professes to sell his goods at cost price, but he uses a weight of 800 g for the1
kg weight. Find his gain percentage.

Solution:
Error = 1 kg – 800 g
= 1000g – 800 g = 200g.
200
Gain% =  100
1000 − 200
200
Gain % =  100 = 25%
800

11. When cost price of two articles are same:

Cost price of two articles are same and one is sold at a profit of p% and other is sold at a loss
P −L
of L%, then the net percentage gain or loss = ( )%
2

Example 7.Two shirts are bought at the rate of Rs 400 each. Shopkeeper sells one at the profit of
150% and other at the loss of 150%. What will be the total profit or loss in the whole transaction?

Solution:

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Cost price, C = Rs.400

Profit on one shirt, P = 150% of 400 = Rs.600
Loss on other shirt, L = 150% of 400 = Rs.600
Total profit/loss = P – L = 600 – 600 = Rs.0
Therefore, No profit/loss.

12. When selling price of two articles are same:

a. When each of the two things is sold at the same price and one at a profit of p% and the other at a
loss of L%, then

100 ( P − L ) − 2PL
The net percentage gain/loss =
(100 + P ) + (100 − L )
Note: If sign of final value is positive, then there will be profit and If sign of final value is
negative, then there will be loss.

b. If profit percentage and loss percentage are equal (P = L), then there will be always loss and

P2
Loss percent = %
100

2  SP  P 2
Net loss = Rs.
(1002 − P2 )
Example 8.Abhi sold two articles for Rs. 5,220 each. On one, he gained 16% and one the other, he
lost 10%. His profit or loss on the whole was:

Solution:

SP = 5220

Gain at one 16%

5220
CP =  100 = 4500
116

Loss at other 10%

5220
CP =  100 = Rs. 5800
90

Total CP = 4500 + 5800 = 10300

Total SP = 2 × 5220 = Rs. 10440

Profit = 10440 – 10300 = Rs. 140

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PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Question 1: An item of cost price Rs. 11000 is marked at a price of Rs. 15400. It is sold at 19%
profit after giving x% discount. What is the value of x?

Ans: 15%

Question 2: A shopkeeper sells three types of TVs, one at a loss of 15%, another at a profit of 25%
and the third one at a loss of 20%. If the selling price of all the three TVs is same, find by how much
percentage is their average Cost Price lower than or higher than their Selling Price. (Approximate)

Ans: 7.55

Question 3: If the cost price of 16 articles is equal to the selling price of 12 articles and the discount
on 12 articles is equal to the profit on 6 articles. What is the percentage point difference between
the profit percentage and discount percentage?

Ans: 22.22%

Question 4: A person buys 5 tables and 9 chairs for Rs. 15,400. He sells the tables at 10% profit
and chairs at 20% profit. If his total profit on selling all the tables and chairs is Rs. 2,080, what is
the cost price of 3 chairs?

Ans: Rs 1800

Question 4: Sudhir purchased a laptop for Rs 42,000 and a scanner –cum-printer for Rs 8,000. He
sold the laptop for a 10% profit and the scanner-cum-printer for a 5% profit. What is his profit
percentage?

Ans: 9.2

Question 5: A person sells an article at 11% below its CP. If he had sold it for ₹30 more, he would
have gained 14%. At what price should he sell the article to gain 25%.

Ans: Rs 150

Question 6: Lekhraj purchased 20 dozen apple at Rs. 48 per dozen. He sold 8 dozen at 10% profit
and the remaining 12 dozen at 20% profit. What is the profit percentage in this whole transaction?

Ans: 16%

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Question 7: Rajiv and Sumit are car dealers of Maruti Suzuki. The Price of Maruti Suzuki alto car
is Rs. 3,75,000. Rajiv gives a discount of 10 % on whole, while Sumit gives a discount of 12% on
first Rs.3 lakh and 8% on rest Rs.75000. Find the difference between both the selling prices.

Ans: Rs 4500

Question 8: When a producer allows 36% discount on the retail price of his product, he earns a
profit of 10%. What would be his profit percent if the discount percent value is reduced by 16%?

Ans: 37.5%

Question 9: A shopkeeper, sold walnuts at the rate Rs 1,190 a kg and bears a loss of 10%. Now if
he decides to sell it at Rs 1,249.5 per kg, what will be the result?

Ans: 5.5% loss

Question 10: On an article the profit is 260% of the cost price. If the cost price increases by 80%
but the selling price remains constant, then what is the new profit percentage?

Ans: 100

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