Profit and Loss Questions

• Profit and Loss – Targeting 50% overall profit with one sale known: A mechanic buys 4 old cars for ₹ 1,00,000 total and spends another ₹ 2,00,000 on maintenance. If he has already sold one car for ₹ 1.20 lakh, what should be the average selling price of the remaining three cars to achieve an overall 50% profit?
• Profit and Loss – Advertising revenue needed to hit a target profit margin on sales: Fixed setup cost = ₹ 2800. Variable costs per 100 copies: paper/ink ₹ 80 and printing ₹ 160 (so ₹ 240 per 100 = ₹ 2.40 per copy). Last month, 2000 copies were printed but only 1500 copies were sold at ₹ 5 each. If total profit realized is 25% of the sales revenue, how much money came from advertising?
• Profit and Loss – Average cost per call comparison with tiered telephony pricing: BSNL charges a fixed ₹ 350 per month and allows 200 calls free. Calls beyond 200 in a month cost ₹ 1.4 each; beyond 400 in a month cost ₹ 1.6 each, and so on. A customer makes 150 calls in February and 250 calls in March. By what percentage is the average cost per call in March cheaper than in February?
• Faulty two-pan balance with asymmetric pans — The right pan always reads 200 g heavier than the left. Tika Chand buys by placing goods on the left pan and a 2 kg weight on the right (repeating n times to “weigh” 2n kg), and sells by reversing the order (goods on right, weight on left). He declares prices at his stated cost price per kg. What is his actual overall profit percentage arising from the faulty balance and the buy/sell reversal?
• Fresh vs dry grapes — Dry grapes contain 25% water and fresh grapes contain 80% water. Akram Miya has 20 kg of dry grapes. He adds water (free) so that the mixture now matches the fresh-grape water proportion (80%), and then sells the entire mixture at the same cost price per kg as dry grapes. What is his total profit percentage?
• Partnership profit handling with donation and reinvestment — Pankaj and Sushil invest in the ratio 3:5 for the same period. At year-end, 20% of total profit is donated to the AIDS Control Society of India; of the remaining 80%, 75% is reinvested and the balance (i.e., 25% of 80%) is divided as interest on capitals in the 3:5 ratio. If the difference in their distributed shares is ₹ 1200, find the total profit for the year.
• Magazine launch arithmetic — 10,000 copies printed for ₹ 50,000 (cost ₹ 5 per copy). 20% are distributed free as specimen copies. Of the remaining stock, 25% are sold at 25% discount on the ₹ 12 printed cover price and the rest at 16.66% discount (i.e., one-sixth off). With no ad revenue, what is the overall percentage gain or loss on the first month’s issue?
• Price grid puzzle — A shoe brand's cost price (CP) and selling price (SP) must each be a multiple of one of 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19, and each price must lie between ₹ 399 and ₹ 699 inclusive. What is the maximum possible profit (SP − CP) under these rules?
• Bargain impact on expected profit — An item is marked at ₹ M. A customer bargains and buys it at M/2. This reduces the trader’s expected profit by 66.66% (i.e., two-thirds) relative to selling at the marked price. What is the percentage discount realized by the customer?
• Markup planning with spoilage — Jhun Jhunwala manufactures 1000 toys at a cost of ₹ 1.20 each (total cost ₹ 1200). He marks such that selling only 70% of production at the marked price would yield a 16.66% overall profit. In reality, he sells 750 toys at the marked price (the remaining are defective). What is his net profit or loss percentage?
• Chained profits at different rates — Anupam → Bhargava → Chaudhary → Dara Singh. Anupam sells to Bhargava at a profit rate that is 4/5 of Bhargava’s profit rate to Chaudhary. Chaudhary sells to Dara at half the profit rate used by Anupam. If Chaudhary earns 10% profit when selling to Dara for ₹ 2805, what was Bhargava’s cost price for the painting (i.e., the price at which Bhargava bought it from Anupam)?
• Manufacturing with rejects — Rotomac knows 10% of pens are defective and rejected before packing. The company must deliver 7200 good pens at ₹ 10 each, and it targets 25% overall profit on all pens manufactured (including rejects). What is the manufacturing cost per pen?
• Diaries with spoilage and discount — A printer expects 40% profit at marked price, but 8% of diaries are spoiled (unsellable). Of the remaining 92%, thirty-two percent of the total (i.e., 32 diaries per 100) are sold at 75% of cost price; the remaining 60% of the total are sold at the expected marked-price level (40% profit). What is the net profit or loss percentage on the entire consignment?
• Tiered discounts after markup — Radhey Lal marks sweets at 40% above cost. He sells 40% of the stock at the marked price, half of the remaining stock at 14.5% discount on the marked price, and the rest at 25% discount. What is his overall profit percentage on cost?
• Markup, discount, and short-weighing — A trader marks goods up by 80% over cost and then offers a 25% discount on the marked price. In addition, he delivers 10% less quantity than charged (short-weighing). What is his net profit percentage on cost?
• Dishonest dealer with multiple cheats — Cost price is ₹ x per kg. He buys at 20% discount and by false weighing receives 20% extra quantity from the wholesaler. He marks up by 80% on x, gives a 25% discount to customers, and also short-weighs them by 10%. What is his overall profit percentage?
• Buying p apples for ₹ q and selling q apples for ₹ p (with p < q) — Over the entire deal, does the merchant gain or lose, and by what percentage (expressed in terms of p and q)?
• Two dealers in sequence — An article passes through two hands and finally sells at 40% profit over the original cost. If the first dealer's profit is 20%, what is the second dealer's profit percentage?
• Mix of profit rates — A trader buys a watch and a wall clock for ₹ 390 in total. He gains 10% on the watch and 15% on the wall clock, and the combined profit is ₹ 51.50. What is the difference between their original prices (wall clock minus watch)?
• Weighted gain targeting — Out of 1000 kg of sugar, a merchant sells x kg at 8% profit and the rest at 18% profit to achieve an overall gain of 14%. How many kilograms are sold at 18% profit?