A man sells a chair and a table at ₹ 4000 each and breaks even overall. If the chair was sold at 25% profit, what was the percentage loss on the table?

Introduction / Context:
The trader sells two items at the same price and neither gains nor loses overall, meaning total selling price equals total cost price. Given a profit on one item, the other must incur an offsetting loss. This is a standard paired transaction scenario.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• SP (chair) = SP (table) = ₹ 4000.
• Overall: total SP = total CP.
• Chair sold at 25% profit.

Concept / Approach:
Let chair CP = x. Then 1.25x = 4000 ⇒ x = 3200. Let table CP = y. Total CP = x + y must equal total SP = 8000. Hence y = 8000 − 3200 = 4800. Table loss% = (y − SP)/y * 100.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Chair: 1.25x = 4000 ⇒ x = 3200Total CP = x + y = 3200 + yTotal SP = 4000 + 4000 = 8000 ⇒ 3200 + y = 8000 ⇒ y = 4800Loss on table = 4800 − 4000 = 800Loss% = 800/4800 * 100 = 16.666…% ≈ 16.66%

Verification / Alternative check:
Total CP = 3200 + 4800 = 8000 equals total SP = 8000, confirming no overall gain or loss.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
16% and 16.33% are approximations from rounding errors; 18.66% and 20% are too large given the needed balance.

Common Pitfalls:
Applying average of percentages instead of the actual cost bases; percentages must be computed on the correct cost price for each item.

Final Answer:
16.66%