Profit Loss and Discount questions are gaining importance in competitive exams be it for IBPS Clerk, PO, RRB, SO, or SBI Clerk or PO. The number of questions and the complexity of questions vary from exam to exam every year.
Profit Loss and Discount questions are complex in nature and require an understanding of Math Tables, Percentage Calculation, Ratio and Proportion, BODMAS, and Mixture and Alligation. Example Questions on Profit Loss and Discount and Practice Questions on Profit Loss and Discount Questions are given in this article.
Nowadays, questions in exams are mixed with multiple concepts and it requires practice and a deep understanding of basic concepts along with quickly identifying numbers.
Table of Contents
What is Profit?
Profit is the amount which is earned by the seller, by selling a product more than its Cost Price. In other words, we can say that Profit is the difference between Cost Price and Selling Price.
Formula of Profit
Profit = Selling Price – Cost Price
Scenarios of Profit
Price
Generally, profit is mostly calculated in terms of price which is a difference in selling price and cost price. When profit is occurred by selling one quantity or service.
Quantity
Sometimes, Profit can be seen in scenarios where quantity difference is present in buying and selling. But in the end, profit can be calculated in terms of Saved quantity with cost Price. Let’s understand with the help of the below example.
Example: A shopkeeper brought 20 sets of pencils, and in each set, there were 20 Pencils. Before selling them Shopkeeper took out 5 pencils from each set and sold every new set at a cost price. In this scenario Profit will be calculated as:
Profit = Price x {Buying Quantity – Selling Quantity}
Service
Nowadays, Trade is not just related to buying and selling commodities but it has also evolved in the trade of service. In some services, the initial investment is not required and in some, it’s required.
So Profit will be calculated when the total cost of services consumed by the subscriber is more than the investment. Let’s understand with the help of the below example:
Example: An entertainment channel is started with an investment of x amount and per subscriber, it cost y amount per month. In this scenario, the investment will be completed with n number of subscribers. The profit formula will be as given below:
Profit = {Subscription Cost x Number of Subscriber x No of Months} -{Investment + Maintenance Cost}
Actual Profit
Sometimes questions that are asked in exams also ask for Actual Profit by giving a deduction of all possible scenarios. For example: Calculate Actual Profit by reducing the profit amount by 10% for tax consideration.
Actual Profit = {Profit – Profit x Deduction%}
What is Loss?
Loss is the amount that is earned by the seller, by selling a product less than its Cost Price. In other words, we can say that Loss is the difference between Selling Price and Cost Price.
Formula of Loss
Loss = Cost Price – Selling Price
Example: If a shopkeeper by a product at x price and sells it at y price which is less than x. Then total loss occurred by the shopkeeper as the difference between the selling price and cost price.
What is a Discount?
Discount is a way by which shopkeepers attract more customers and sell more products. Profit can be calculated on the selling price after giving a discount and difference with cost price. The formula for discount is given below:
Discount = Profit + Cost Price – Selling Price
Solved Examples of Profit Loss and Discount Questions
Below are the solved examples of Profit Loss and Discount questions:
Example 1: Cost of a watch is 300/- and selling this watch at x price shop keeper earns 30% profit. Find the selling price?
Solution 1: 30% of 300 is 90.
Now as per formula selling price is as below:
Selling Price = Cost Price + Profit
=> SP = 300 + 90
=> SP = 390
Example 2: Selling Price of a watch is x and on selling this watch shop keeper gets Loss of 10%, the Cost price of this watch is 600. Find the Selling price?
Solution 2: 10% of 600 is 60.
Now as per formula selling price is as below:
Selling Price = Cost Price – Loss
=> SP = 600 – 60
=> SP = 540
Example 3: The cost of a watch is 700/- and the selling price of this watch was 1000/-, before the final billing shopkeeper gives 10%. Find the actual selling price and profit amount?
Solution 3: Selling Price before the discount was 1000/-.
=>Discount = 10% of Selling Price.
=>Discount = 10% of 1000.
=> Discount = 100
Now Selling Price is as below:
=> SP = Selling Price – Discount
=> SP = 1000 – 100
=> SP = 900
Now as per formula profit is as below:
Profit = Selling Price – Cost Price
=> Profot = 900 – 700
=> Profit = 200
Note: Profit Loss and Discount questions require a thorough understanding of Percentage, BODMAS and Ratio, and Proportion.
Practice Profit Loss and Discount Questions
Below are the practices Profit Loss and Discount questions:
- A man purchases a watch at 100 Rs and he wants to sell this watch at a 50% profit. Find the selling price?
- A man wants to sell a watch at 360 Rs and in this, he earns a profit of 20%. Find Cost Price?
- A man sells a watch at x price and gets a loss of 50 Rs which is a 10% loss. Find Selling Price and Cost Price?
- A watch was sold at 500 which was a loss, if the watch was sold at 700 then the amount of profit and loss was the same. Find the cost price of the watch?
- An item marked at 840 is sold for 714. What is the discount and discount %?
- The list price of a frock is 220. A discount of 20% is announced on sales. What is the amount of discount on it and its sale price?
- A man bought a second-hand refrigerator for 2,500, then spent 500 on its repairs and sold it for 3,300. Find his loss or gain percent?
- A shopkeeper purchased 200 bulbs for 10 each. However, 5 bulbs were fused and had to be thrown away. The remaining were sold at 12 each. Find the gain or loss %.
- A man bought two fans for 1200 each. Sold one at a loss of 5% and the other at a profit of 10%. Find the selling price of each. Also, find out the total profit or loss.
- The cost of a pair of roller skates at a shop was 450. The sales tax charged was 5% at the time of billing. Find the bill amount?
Final Words
Practicing the above Profit Loss and Discount questions is not the end of your practice, but it’s a start of a new journey to apply logic to Profit Loss and Discount questions, solutions with multiple approaches in a right and faster way.
For cracking competitive exams one must practice Profit Loss and Discount questions without a calculator is a must. At last, during the exam, if a solution for the Profit Loss and Discount question cannot be found easily then mark that question to revisit and move ahead instead of wasting time and energy.