Mohan spends fixed percentages of his monthly money on an insurance policy, food, children education, and recreation, and deposits the remaining Rs. 504 in a bank; what total amount does he spend together on food and his insurance policy?

Introduction / Context:
This problem checks understanding of how to work with percentages of a total amount in practical budget situations. Mohan allocates money to several expense categories and saves the remaining part. From the amount saved, we have to backtrack to the original total amount and then find how much he spends on two particular categories. This type of question is very common in bank exams, SSC, and other aptitude tests where students must reverse percentage calculations.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Mohan spends 23% of his money on an insurance policy.
• He spends 33% on food.
• He spends 19% on children education.
• He spends 16% on recreation.
• The remaining amount after these expenses is deposited in a bank.
• The bank deposit is Rs. 504.

Concept / Approach:
The total percentage spent on all given expense heads is the sum of the respective percentages. Whatever remains is the unspent percentage, which corresponds to the known rupee amount deposited in the bank. Once we know what percentage corresponds to Rs. 504, we find the total money using a simple reverse percentage step. Finally, we calculate the amount spent on food and insurance policy together by applying their combined percentage to this total amount. This is a standard method of translating percentages into absolute values and vice versa.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Total percentage spent on all four heads = 23% + 33% + 19% + 16% = 91%.Therefore, percentage left for bank deposit = 100% - 91% = 9%.Bank deposit of Rs. 504 corresponds to 9% of Mohan total money.Let total money be T rupees. Then 9% of T = 504, so 0.09 * T = 504.Thus T = 504 / 0.09 = 5600.Combined percentage for food and insurance policy = 23% + 33% = 56%.So amount spent on food and insurance = 56% of 5600 = 0.56 * 5600 = 3136 rupees.

Verification / Alternative check:
We can verify by recomputing all allocations from the found total of Rs. 5600. Insurance policy: 23% of 5600 is 1288. Food: 33% of 5600 is 1848. Education: 19% of 5600 is 1064. Recreation: 16% of 5600 is 896. Sum of these expenses is 1288 + 1848 + 1064 + 896 = 5296. Remaining amount is 5600 - 5296 = 304. This looks wrong so recheck the arithmetic. Actually 1288 + 1848 = 3136, and 1064 + 896 = 1960. Then total spent is 3136 + 1960 = 5096, leaving 5600 - 5096 = 504, which matches the given deposit. This confirms that the calculations and result are consistent.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Rs. 2326 is too low and would leave an incorrect remaining amount after considering the other expenses and bank deposit.

Rs. 5876 is greater than the total available money, so it is impossible as combined spending on just two categories.

Rs. 1741 is not a proper 56% of any nice round total consistent with a deposit of Rs. 504.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes mistake 504 as 91% instead of 9%, which completely reverses the logic. Another error is to compute 56% of 504 instead of 56% of the total money. Always identify clearly whether a given amount corresponds to a spent percentage or a remaining percentage. Careful reading of the problem statement and recomputation of all percentages are effective ways to avoid such mistakes and verify the result in percentage word problems.

Final Answer:
The amount Mohan spends on food and insurance policy together is Rs. 3136.