Question:easy

P sells a table to Q at a profit of 10% and Q sells it to R at a profit of 12%. If R pays Rs. 246.40 for it, then how much had P paid for it?

Show Hint

Two successive profits multiply, they do not add. Divide 246.40 by 1.12 to get what Q paid, then divide that by 1.10 to get what P paid.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • 200.00
  • 300.00
  • 248.00
  • 346.00
Show Solution

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Work backwards from R instead of forwards from P.
R is the last buyer and his price is known, so it is easier to peel the profits off one at a time. If a seller made $p\%$ profit, then his own cost price is the selling price divided by $\left(1+\frac{p}{100}\right)$.

Step 2: Remove Q's profit of 12 per cent.
R paid Rs. 246.40 and that price carried Q's 12 per cent profit. So Q's cost price was
\[ \frac{246.40}{1.12} = 220 \]
To check this division, note $220 \times 1.12 = 220 + 26.40 = 246.40$. So Q bought the table for Rs. 220.

Step 3: Remove P's profit of 10 per cent.
Rs. 220 is what P charged Q, and it carried P's 10 per cent profit. So P's own cost was
\[ \frac{220}{1.10} = 200 \]
Checking again, $200 \times 1.10 = 220$. So P had paid Rs. 200.

Step 4: A quick ratio route for the same result.
The successive profits can be written as fractions: $\frac{11}{10}$ for the first sale and $\frac{28}{25}$ for the second. Their product is
\[ \frac{11}{10} \times \frac{28}{25} = \frac{308}{250} = \frac{154}{125} \]
So P's cost is
\[ 246.40 \times \frac{125}{154} = \frac{30800}{154} = 200 \]
The same figure appears by both routes, which confirms it.

Step 5: Why the other choices fail.
Rs. 248 would need the total mark-up to be under 1 per cent from Rs. 246.40, which contradicts two profits of 10 and 12 per cent. It is what you get if you wrongly treat the combined profit as a simple 10 + 12 = 22 per cent and then fumble the arithmetic.
Rs. 300 and Rs. 346 are both above Rs. 246.40. Since every step in this chain raises the price, P's cost has to be the smallest number in the story, so both are impossible on sight.

Final Answer:
Peeling off 12 per cent and then 10 per cent gives P's price as Rs. 200.
\[ \boxed{200} \]
Was this answer helpful?
0

Top Questions on Profit and Loss

Questions Asked in CLAT exam

Read the passage and answer the question.

Passage (extract): The work which Gandhiji had taken up was not only regarding the achievement of political freedom but also the establishment of a new social order based on truth and non-violence, unity and peace, equality and universal brotherhood and maximum freedom for all. A new order cannot be established without radically changing the mind and attitude of men towards property and, at some stage or the other, the 'haves' have to yield place to the 'have-nots'. We have seen, in our time, attempts to achieve a kind of egalitarian society and the picture of it after it was achieved. But this was done, by and large, through the use of physical force. It may even be that, like a gas kept confined within containers under great pressure, or water held back by a big dam, once the barrier breaks, the reaction will one day sweep back with a violence equal in extent and intensity to what was used to establish and maintain the outward egalitarian form. This enforced egalitarianism contains, in its bosom, the seed of its own destruction. If egalitarianism is to endure, it has to be based not on the possession of the maximum material goods by a few or by all but on voluntary, enlightened renunciation of those goods which cannot be shared by others or can be enjoyed only at the expense of others.

According to the passage, egalitarianism will not survive if
View Solution
Read the passage and answer the question.

Passage (extract): The work which Gandhiji had taken up was not only regarding the achievement of political freedom but also the establishment of a new social order based on truth and non-violence, unity and peace, equality and universal brotherhood and maximum freedom for all. This unfinished part of his experiment was perhaps even more difficult to achieve than the achievement of political freedom. In the political struggle, the fight was against a foreign power and all one could do was either join it or wish it success and give it his/her moral support. In establishing a social order on this pattern, there was a strong possibility of a conflict arising between diverse groups and classes of our own people.

According to the passage, which was the unfinished part of Gandhi's experiment?
View Solution
Read the passage and answer the question.

Passage (extract): In the political struggle, the fight was against a foreign power and all one could do was either join it or wish it success and give it his/her moral support. Experience shows that man values his possessions even more than his life because in the former he sees the means for perpetuation and survival of his descendants even after his body is reduced to ashes. We have seen, in our time, attempts to achieve a kind of egalitarian society and the picture of it after it was achieved. But this was done, by and large, through the use of physical force. This enforced egalitarianism contains, in its bosom, the seed of its own destruction. The root cause of class conflict is possessiveness or the acquisitive instinct.

Which of the following statements is 'not true' in the context of the passage?
View Solution