A wholesaler sells a good to a retailer at a profit of 5%, and the retailer then sells it to a customer at a profit of 10%. If the customer pays Rs 2000 for the good, what did it cost the wholesaler (in rupees)?

Introduction / Context:
This problem illustrates a typical trade chain: wholesaler to retailer to customer, with each party adding their own profit margin. The question requires you to work backwards from the final selling price paid by the customer to find the original cost to the wholesaler. It is a good exercise in handling successive percentages and reversing them correctly.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The wholesaler sells to the retailer at a profit of 5%.
• The retailer sells to the final customer at a profit of 10%.
• The final customer pays Rs 2000.
• We assume that there are no taxes, discounts or additional costs other than the stated profits.

Concept / Approach:
Let the wholesaler cost price be CPw. The wholesaler sells at 5% profit, so the price to the retailer is CPw * 1.05. The retailer then sells at 10% profit on his cost, so selling price to the customer is CPw * 1.05 * 1.10. This combined factor is 1.155. Since the final price is known, we can divide by this factor to find CPw. This is a classic example of reversing successive percentage increases.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Let the cost price to the wholesaler be CPw.Price to retailer = CPw * (1 + 5 / 100) = CPw * 1.05.Price to customer = (CPw * 1.05) * (1 + 10 / 100) = CPw * 1.05 * 1.10 = CPw * 1.155.We are given that the customer pays Rs 2000.So, CPw * 1.155 = 2000.Therefore CPw = 2000 / 1.155 ≈ Rs 1731.60.

Verification / Alternative check:
Take CPw = Rs 1731.60. Wholesaler sells to retailer at 5% profit: price becomes 1731.60 * 1.05 = Rs 1818.18 approximately. Retailer adds 10% profit: 1818.18 * 1.10 ≈ Rs 2000, which matches the given customer price. This confirms that our back calculation is correct and consistent.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Values like 1931.6, 2310.6 or 3210.6, when multiplied by 1.155, do not give Rs 2000. Instead, they would lead to final prices larger or smaller than Rs 2000, which contradicts the given information. Only Rs 1731.6 reproduces the correct end price after applying both profit percentages.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes subtract percentages directly or treat the total profit as 15% simply added on once, which is not correct because the second profit is calculated on an already increased price. Another common error is to divide by 1.15 instead of 1.155. Always compute the combined multiplier accurately when dealing with successive percentages.

Final Answer:
The cost price of the good to the wholesaler was approximately Rs 1731.60.