Profit on selling price versus cost — Aptitude Question
Profit on selling price versus cost: A profit of 25% on the selling price is what percent on the cost price? Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Profit & Loss
- Section: Quantitative Aptitude
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 60 seconds
Question
A profit of 25% on the selling price is what percent on the cost price?
Options
- 25%
- 30%
- 33⅓%
- 40%
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: C. 33⅓%
Worked solution
- Let SP = 100. Profit = 25, so CP = 75.
- Profit as a percentage of cost = 25/75 = 33⅓%.
Answer: 33⅓%.
The idea
When a percentage is quoted on the selling price, set SP to 100 instead of CP. Profit on SP is always the smaller of the two figures.
Shortcut. A profit of 1/n of SP is 1/(n − 1) of CP: 25% = 1/4 of SP becomes 1/3 of CP = 33⅓%.
Common trap. 25% — assuming a percentage on the selling price carries straight over to the cost price, though the cost is the smaller base.