Articles

[vinay1983]

A merchant buys a number of articles for $25 each. What is the percentage profit made by the merchant by selling these articles?

1. The merchant sold all articles and made $2000
2. The merchant sold 40% of the articles at $40 each and the remaining at $20 each.

[s.vishnu]

Hi Vinay,

Statement 1 is not sufficient as the amount he spent or number of articles bought is not given.

Statement 2:
the average selling price of the article is 0.4*40+0.6*20)/(0.4+0.6)=$28.The cost price was $25 hence the percentage profit is (28-25/25)*100

B sufficient.

Kindly correct if wrong.[/quote]

[varun289]

IMO - B


b give percent details for each ,

ex-

lets test for 10 , 4 will sold in 40 & 6 at 20 , so we can get % gain or loss

[ahmedshafea]

Is the above reply a correct solution? If not could one explain the steps please

[Jay@ManhattanReview]

A merchant buys a number of articles for $25 each. What is the percentage profit made by the merchant by selling these articles?

1. The merchant sold all articles and made $2000
2. The merchant sold 40% of the articles at $40 each and the remaining at $20 each.

We are given cost price of an article = $25.

We have to find out the percentage profit made on selling the articles. We can compute it in two ways.

1. Percentage profit = [(Total sale value - Total cost) / (Total cost)] * 100%

or,

2. Percentage profit = [(Selling price of one article - Cost price of one article) / (Cost price of one article)] * 100%

So, if we know the selling price an article, we can get the answer. Moreover, we would not need the number of articles sold.

Statement 1: The merchant sold all articles and made $2000.

To use the 1st formula, though we know Total sale value = $2000, we do not know Total cost. Total cost = Cost price of an article * Number of articles purchased = 25*Number of articles purchased.

Since we do not know that value of 'number of articles purchased,' we cannot get the answer. Insufficient.

Statement 2: The merchant sold 40% of the articles at $40 each and the remaining at $20 each.

Say there are 100 articles, thus, 40% of 100 = 40 were sold @ $40 a piece and the remaining 60 were sold @ $20 a piece.

Thus, the average selling price of an article = (Total sale value) / (Total number of articles)

=> Av. selling price = (40*40 + 20*60) / 100 = (1600 + 1200) / 100 = $28.

So, we got the selling price of an article; thus, we can apply the 2nd formulae.

Percentage profit = [(Selling price of one article - Cost price of one article) / (Cost price of one article)] * 100%

Percentage profit = [(28 - 25) / (25)] * 100% = [3/25]*100% = 12%. Sufficient.

The correct answer: B

Hope this helps!

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-Jay
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