To help students overcome this difficulty, we have compiled a comprehensive collection of CAT profit, loss and Interest questions from all the CAT previous year papers in pdf format with detailed text and video solutions. Every question has video solution that is explained by CAT experts. Over the past few years, CAT Profit and Loss questions have made a recurrent appearance in the Quant section. You can expect around 1-2 questions in the new format of the CAT Quant section. Practising free CAT mock where you'll get a fair idea of how questions are asked, and type of questions asked in CAT Exam. Here download the PDF for free without signing up. Click the link below to download the CAT profit, loss and interest questions PDF with detailed video solutions.
Year | Weightage |
| 2024 | 7 |
| 2023 | 6 |
2022 | 4 |
2021 | 5 |
2020 | 8 |
2019 | 7 |
2018 | 2 |
Profit and loss, Simple interest and Compound interest are some of the essential topics in the quantitative
aptitude section, and it is vital to have a clear understanding of the
formulas related to them. To help the aspirants to ace this topic, we have
made a PDF containing a comprehensive list of formulas, tips, and
tricks that you can use to solve Profit, loss and interest questions with ease
and speed. To avoid missing similar other important topics, checking with the CAT exam syllabus will help. And, also enrolling in a CAT online coaching will also help.
1. Compound Interest - Instalments
If an amount 'P' is borrowed for 'n' years at r% per annum compounded annually, and x is the installment that is paid at the end of each year, starting from the first year, then:
$$P\ =\ \dfrac{\ x}{1+\dfrac{r}{100}}+\ \dfrac{\ x}{\left(1+\dfrac{r}{100}\right)^{^2}}+...+\ \dfrac{\ x}{\left(1+\dfrac{r}{100}\right)^{^n}}$$
or
$$P\ \left(1+\frac{r}{100}\right)^{n\ }=\ x\ \left(\left(1+\frac{r}{100}\right)^{n-1}+\left(1+\frac{r}{100}\right)^{n-2\ }...\ +1\right)$$
2. Consecutive Profit %
When there are two successive profits of $$x\%$$ and $$y\%$$ then the net percentage profit $$=\ \dfrac{\ x+y+xy}{100}$$.
When there is a profit of $$x\%$$ and loss of $$y\%$$ then net percentage profit or loss $$=\ \dfrac{\ x-y-xy}{100}$$
3. Simple and Compound Interest
The principal amount is P, rate of interest is R and time of loan is T
Simple Interest = $$\dfrac{P*T*R}{100}$$
Amount = Principal + Simple Interest
Compound Interest = $$ P(1+\dfrac{R}{100})^{T}$$ - P
For the same principal, positive rate of interest and time period, the compound interest on the loan is always greater than the simple interest.
4. SP - CP - Discount - Marked Price
The cost price of an article is C.P, the selling price is S.P and the marked price is M.P
Profit (Loss) = S.P – C.P
% Profit (Loss) = Profit (Loss)/C.P *100
Discount = M.P – S.P
% Discount = Discount/M.P * 100
Total increase in price due to two subsequent increases of X% and Y% is (X+Y+XY/100)%
The monthly sales of a product from January to April were 120, 135, 150 and 165 units, respectively. The cost price of the product was Rs. 240 per unit, and a fixed marked price was used for the product in all the four months. Discounts of 20%, 10% and 5% were given on the marked price per unit in January, February and March, respectively, while no discounts were given in April. If the total profit from January to April was Rs. 138825, then the marked price per unit, in rupees, was
correct answer:-2
An item with a cost price of Rs. 1650 is sold at a certain discount on a fixed marked price to earn a profit of 20% on the cost price. If the discount was doubled, the profit would have been Rs. 110. The rate of discount, in percentage, at which the profit percentage would be equal to the rate of discount, is nearest to
correct answer:-3
A shopkeeper offers a discount of 22% on the marked price of each chair, and gives 13 chairs to a customer for the discounted price of 12 chairs to earn a profit of 26% on the transaction. If the cost price of each chair is Rs 100, then the marked price, in rupees, of each chair is
correct answer:-175
Bina incurs 19% loss when she sells a product at Rs. 4860 to Shyam, who in turn sells this product to Hari. If Bina would have sold this product to Shyam at the purchase price of Hari, she would have obtained 17% profit. Then, the profit, in rupees, made by Shyam is
correct answer:-2160
Gopi marks a price on a product in order to make 20% profit. Ravi gets 10% discount on this marked price, and thus saves Rs 15. Then, the profit, in rupees, made by Gopi by selling the product to Ravi, is
correct answer:-1
The selling price of a product is fixed to ensure 40% profit. If the product had cost 40% less and had been sold for 5 rupees less, then the resulting profit would have been 50%. The original selling price, in rupees, of the product is
correct answer:-2
After two successive increments, Gopal's salary became 187.5% of his initial salary. If the percentage of salary increase in the second increment was twice of that in the first increment, then the percentage of salary increase in the first increment was
correct answer:-3
A merchant purchases a cloth at a rate of Rs.100 per meter and receives 5 cm length of cloth free for every 100 cm length of cloth purchased by him. He sells the same cloth at a rate of Rs.110 per meter but cheats his customers by giving 95 cm length of cloth for every 100 cm length of cloth purchased by the customers. If the merchant provides a 5% discount, the resulting profit earned by him is
correct answer:-3
Gita sells two objects A and B at the same price such that she makes a profit of 20% on object A and a loss of 10% on object B. If she increases the selling price such that objects A and B are still sold at an equal price and a profit of 10% is made on object B, then the profit made on object A will be nearest to
correct answer:-3
Minu purchases a pair of sunglasses at Rs.1000 and sells to Kanu at 20% profit. Then, Kanu sells it back to Minu at 20% loss. Finally, Minu sells the same pair of sunglasses to Tanu. If the total profit made by Minu from all her transactions is Rs.500, then the percentage of profit made by Minu when she sold the pair of sunglasses to Tanu is
correct answer:-3
Jayant bought a certain number of white shirts at the rate of Rs 1000 per piece and a certain number of blue shirts at the rate of Rs 1125 per piece. For each shirt, he then set a fixed market price which was 25% higher than the average cost of all the shirts. He sold all the shirts at a discount of 10% and made a total profit of Rs.51000. If he bought both colors of shirts, then the maximum possible total number of shirts that he could have bought is
correct answer:-407
Amal buys 110 kg of syrup and 120 kg of juice, syrup being 20% less costly than juice, per kg. He sells 10 kg of syrup at 10% profit and 20 kg of juice at 20% profit. Mixing the remaining juice and syrup, Amal sells the mixture at ₹ 308.32 per kg and makes an overall profit of 64%. Then, Amal’s cost price for syrup, in rupees per kg, is
correct answer:-160
Raj invested ₹ 10000 in a fund. At the end of first year, he incurred a loss but his balance was more than ₹ 5000. This balance, when invested for another year, grew and the percentage of growth in the second year was five times the percentage of loss in the first year. If the gain of Raj from the initial investment over the two year period is 35%, then the percentage of loss in the first year is
correct answer:-4
Amal purchases some pens at ₹ 8 each. To sell these, he hires an employee at a fixed wage. He sells 100 of these pens at ₹ 12 each. If the remaining pens are sold at ₹ 11 each, then he makes a net profit of ₹ 300, while he makes a net loss of ₹ 300 if the remaining pens are sold at ₹ 9 each. The wage of the employee, in INR, is
correct answer:-1000
Anil, Bobby, and Chintu jointly invest in a business and agree to share the overall profit in proportion to their investments. Anil’s share of investment is 70%. His share of profit decreases by ₹ 420 if the overall profit goes down from 18% to 15%. Chintu’s share of profit increases by ₹ 80 if the overall profit goes up from 15% to 17%. The amount, in INR, invested by Bobby is
correct answer:-1
In the final examination, Bishnu scored 52% and Asha scored 64%. The marks obtained by Bishnu is 23 less, and that by Asha is 34 more than the marks obtained by Ramesh. The marks obtained by Geeta, who scored 84%, is
correct answer:-4
A person spent Rs 50000 to purchase a desktop computer and a laptop computer. He sold the desktop at 20% profit and the laptop at 10% loss. If overall he made a 2% profit then the purchase price, in rupees, of the desktop is
correct answer:-20000
A man buys 35 kg of sugar and sets a marked price in order to make a 20% profit. He sells 5 kg at this price, and 15 kg at a 10% discount. Accidentally, 3 kg of sugar is wasted. He sells the remaining sugar by raising the marked price by p percent so as to make an overall profit of 15%. Then p is nearest to
correct answer:-3
Anil buys 12 toys and labels each with the same selling price. He sells 8 toys initially at 20% discount on the labeled price. Then he sells the remaining 4 toys at an additional 25% discount on the discounted price. Thus, he gets a total of Rs 2112, and makes a 10% profit. With no discounts, his percentage of profit would have been
correct answer:-1
In a group of people, 28% of the members are young while the rest are old. If 65% of the members are literates, and 25% of the literates are young, then the percentage of old people among the illiterates is nearest to
correct answer:-4