Question:hard

A cake chain manufactures two types of products, cakes/pastries/gateaux and savouries. The chain was concerned about high wastage, in terms of leftover, and wanted to reduce it. The table below gives sales, costs and leftover data for both product types from 1993 to 2004.



Which of the following statement(s) is/are right?
1. The worth of leftover for cakes/pastries/gateaux increased from 1993 to 2004.
2. The worth of leftover for cakes/pastries/gateaux kept on fluctuating, many times, between 1993 and 2004.
3. The worth of leftover for savouries and cakes/pastries/gateaux was highest in 2004.
4. The worth of leftover for savouries kept on fluctuating, many times, between 1993 and 2004.

Choose the right combination from the following:

Show Hint

Worth of leftover equals leftover % of sales, multiplied by sales, for that year; check whether it rises overall and whether it zig-zags in between, these are two separate, non-contradictory checks.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • 1 and 4
  • 3 and 4
  • 1 and 2
  • 3 only
Show Solution

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Think of the cakes/pastries/gateaux leftover series as a graph over eleven years. Two separate questions can be asked about any such graph: how does the last point compare with the first point, and does the line move up and down along the way. These are independent questions, and both can have a yes answer for the same graph.

  1. 1, net rise from 1993 to 2004: Sales have grown enormously over the eleven years while the leftover percentage stays in a similar low single digit range throughout, so the rupee leftover value at the end of the period is well above the rupee leftover value at the start. Net rise: yes.
  2. 2, fluctuation in between for cakes/pastries/gateaux: Reading the percentage column year by year shows it does not climb steadily, some years it is higher than the year before and some years lower. A series can rise overall from start to finish and still zig-zag through the middle years, so this is consistent with statement 1 being true at the same time.
  3. 3, highest in 2004 for both products: this needs 2004's leftover rupee value to beat every other year for both cakes/pastries/gateaux and savouries at once. Even though sales peak in 2004, the leftover percentage for at least one of the two products is higher in an earlier year, so this combined claim cannot be confirmed for both series together.
  4. 4, savouries fluctuate: true on its own, since the savouries percentage also moves up and down, but it is being combined here with statement 3, which fails.

Let's summarize:

  • Increased overall and fluctuated in between are not opposites, a series can do both.
  • Options that bundle a shaky claim, like highest in 2004 for both products, with a true one should be rejected as a pair.

The pairing that is fully supported is statements 1 and 2, so option (C) is the best answer.

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