A shopkeeper marked an item 25% above its cost price. During a sale, he offered a discount of 10%. What was his profit percentage?

Question

A shopkeeper marked an item 25% above its cost price. During a sale, he offered a discount of 10%. What was his profit percentage?

1. A. 10%
2. B. 12.50% (Correct answer)
3. C. 15%
4. D. 17.5%

Correct Answer

Option B — 12.50%

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is 12.50%.

Key Points

• Take the cost price as ₹100 to keep the arithmetic clean.
• Marked 25% above cost: MP = ₹125.
• A 10% discount on the marked price: SP = 125 × 0.9 = ₹112.50.
• Profit = 112.50 − 100 = ₹12.50, so profit % = 12.5%.
• The direct formula gives the same result in one line: net effect = m − d − (m × d)/100 = 25 − 10 − 2.5 = 12.5%.
• Note that the discount applies to the marked price and the profit to the cost price — subtracting 10 from 25 to get 15% is the standard error, and it is option C.

Additional Information

• The single-step relation between markup and discount: net profit % = m − d − (m × d)/100, with m the markup and d the discount.
• Taking cost price as ₹100 makes every intermediate figure a rupee amount and is faster than the formula for one-off calculations.
• The discount always applies to the marked price while profit is measured against the cost price — conflating the two bases is the error the distractors are built around.

प्रश्न (हिन्दी में)

एक दुकानदार ने एक वस्तु पर उसके लागत मूल्य से 25% अधिक मूल्य अंकित किया। एक सेल के दौरान, उसने 10% की छूट दी। उसका लाभ प्रतिशत क्या था?

1. A. 10%
2. B. 12.50%
3. C. 15%
4. D. 17.5%