Quantitative Aptitude
Profit, Loss & Discount
Profit, Loss & Discount
Profit and Loss problems involve buying and selling goods. The base is always the Cost Price (CP). Marked Price (MP) is the labelled price; Selling Price (SP) is what the buyer actually pays after any discount.
Key Idea
Profit% and Loss% are always calculated on Cost Price (CP) — never on Selling Price or Marked Price.
Core Formulas
Profit / Loss Percentage
P% or L% = (Profit or Loss / CP) × 100
To find what percentage of profit or loss was made on the cost price.
Selling Price from CP and P%
SP = CP × (100 + P%) / 100
To find SP when CP and profit percentage are known.
Selling Price from CP and L%
SP = CP × (100 − L%) / 100
To find SP when CP and loss percentage are known.
SP after Discount on Marked Price
SP = MP × (100 − Discount%) / 100
When a discount is applied to the marked price to get actual selling price.
Faulty Weight Profit
Profit% = (True weight − False weight) / False weight × 100
When a dishonest dealer uses a lighter weight to give less goods.
Relevant Exams
Profit & Loss is present in virtually every SSC and banking exam. Dishonest dealer and successive discount variants are frequently tested in SSC CGL Tier 2.