beater wrote:A clothing store acquired an item at a cost of x dollars and sold the item for y dollars. The store’s gross profit from the item was what percent of its cost for the item?
(1) y – x = 20
2) y / x = 5 / 4

gp = y-x

% gp to orignal cost = (y-x)/x *100= y/x-1*100

(1) not sufficient

(2)%= y/x-1*100 = (5/4-1)*100 = 25%
sufficient

B

Stat (2) provides the ratio of X to Y but not the actual values for X and Y, correct?

Answer B. Equation should be ((y-x)/x)*100

beater wrote:Stat (2) provides the ratio of X to Y but not the actual values for X and Y, correct?

question is also asking for the % not actual value..

Can someone else elaborate this problem?

beater wrote:A clothing store acquired an item at a cost of x dollars and sold the item for y dollars. The store�s gross profit from the item was what percent of its cost for the item?
(1) y � x = 20
2) y / x = 5 / 4

Profit = y-x
Profit/Cost = (y-x)/x = y/x - x/x = y/x - 1.
Thus, to determine profit/cost, we need to know the value of y/x.

Question rephrased: what is y/x?

Statement 1: y-x = 20.
No way to determine the value of y/x.
Insufficient.

Statement 2: y/x = 5/4.
Sufficient.

The correct answer is B.

beater wrote:A clothing store acquired an item at a cost of x dollars and sold the item for y dollars. The store�s gross profit from the item was what percent of its cost for the item?
(1) y � x = 20
2) y / x = 5 / 4

We are given that a clothing store acquired an item at a cost of x dollars and sold the item for y dollars. We must determine:

(profit/cost) * 100 = ?

We are given x as the cost and y as the revenue. Thus, profit = revenue - cost = y - x, and thus we can substitute y - x for profit and x for cost. Thus, our new question is:

(y - x)/x * 100 = ?

Statement One Alone:

y - x = 20

Since y - x = 20, we can substitute 20 for y - x into the expression (y - x)/x * 100.

The new question is: 20/x * 100 = ?

Since we do not know the value of x, statement one alone is not sufficient.

Statement Two Alone:

y/x = 5/4

When we cross multiply y/x = 5/4 we obtain:

4y = 5x

(4/5)y = x

0.8y = x

Since 0.8y = x, we can substitute 0.8y for x in the expression (y - x)/x * 100.

(y - 0.8y)/(0.8y) * 100 = ?

(0.2y)/(0.8y) * 100 = ?

(0.2/0.8) * 100 = ?

(1/4) * 100 = 25%

Statement two is sufficient.

Answer: B