A dishonest merchant sells goods at a 12.5% loss on the cost price, but uses 28 g weight instead of 36 g. What is his percentage profit or loss?

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Question

This question was previously asked in

SSC CGL 2022 Tier-I Official Paper (Held On : 01 Dec 2022 Shift 1)

Answer 1

Given:

A dishonest merchant sells goods at a 12.5% loss on the cost price but uses 28 g weight instead of 36 g.

Concept used:

Final percentage change after two successive increments of A% and B% = (A + B + \(AB \over 100\)) %

Calculation:

Percentage gain by using 28 g weight instead of 36 g = \(\frac {36 - 28}{28} × 100\) = \(\frac {200}{7}\%\)

Percentage loss = 12.5%

Considering 12.5% loss as -12.5% profit,

Now, the final percentage profit/loss = \({\frac {200}{7} - 12.5 - {\frac {200}{7} × 12.5 \over 100}}\) = +12.5%

Here, the positive sign indicates a percentage profit.

∴ His percentage profit is 12.5%

Shortcut TrickCalculation:

Merchant sells goods at a 12.5% loss:

C.P : S.P = 8 : 7

Merchant uses 28 g weight instead of 36 g

C.P : S.P = 28 : 36 = 7 : 9

We can use successive methods:

So, C.P : S.P = 56 : 63 = 8 : 9

Profit% = {(9 - 8)/8} × 100

⇒ 12.5%

∴ The correct answer is 12.5%.

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