Arithmetic • Profit & Loss Official Answer Keys

CAT Profit, Loss & Discount Questions

Markup, successive discounts, faulty balances, and partnership profit distribution questions. Official questions curated from CAT 2017–2025 with detailed explanations.

29 Total Questions
MCQ: 22 (+3 / -1)
TITA: 7 (0 Negative Penalty)
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Official Exam Questions & Explanations (25 of 29)

Sorted in official convenor sequence
Question 1 of 29
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
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
Question 2 of 29
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
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
TITA Answer:
Question 3 of 29
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
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
Question 4 of 29
CAT 2024 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
A fruit seller has a stock of mangoes, bananas and apples with at least one fruit of each type. At the beginning of a day, the number of mangoes make up 40% of his stock. That day, he sells half of the mangoes, 96 bananas and 40% of the apples. At the end of the day, he ends up selling 50% of the fruits. The smallest possible total number of fruits in the stock at the beginning of the day is
TITA Answer:
Question 5 of 29
CAT 2024 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
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
TITA Answer:
Question 6 of 29
CAT 2024 Slot 3QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Gopi marks a price on a product in order to make 20% profit. Ravi gets 10% discount on that marked price, and thus saves Rs 15. Then, the profit, in rupees, made by Gopi by selling the product to Ravi, is
Question 7 of 29
CAT 2023 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Gita sells two objects AA and BB at the same price such that she makes a profit of 20%20 \% on object AA and aa loss of 10%10 \% on object BB. If she increases the selling price such that objects AA and BB are still sold at an equal price and a profit of 10%10 \% is made on object BB, then the profit made on object A will be nearest to
Question 8 of 29
CAT 2025 Slot 3QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
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
Question 9 of 29
CAT 2023 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Minu purchases a pair of sunglasses at Rs. 10001000 and sells to Kanu at 20%20 \% profit. Then, Kanu sells it back to Minu at 20%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. 500500, then the percentage of profit made by Minu when she sold the pair of sunglasses to Tanu is
Question 10 of 29
CAT 2023 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
Jayant bought a certain number of white shirts at the rate of Rs 10001000 per piece and a certain number of blue shirts at the rate of Rs 11251125 per piece. For each shirt, he then set a fixed market price which was 25%25 \% higher than the average cost of all the shirts. He sold all the shirts at a discount of 10%10 \% and made a total profit of Rs 5100051000. If he bought both colors of shirts, then the maximum possible total number of shirts that he could have bought is
TITA Answer:
Question 11 of 29
CAT 2023 Slot 3QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
A merchant purchases a cloth at a rate of Rs. 100100 per meter and receives 5 cm5 \mathrm{~cm} length of cloth free for every 100 cm100 \mathrm{~cm} length of cloth purchased by him. He sells the same cloth at a rate of Rs. 110110 per meter but cheats his customers by giving 95 cm95 \mathrm{~cm} length of cloth for every 100 cm100 \mathrm{~cm} length of cloth purchased by the customers. If the merchant provides a 5%5 \% discount, the resulting profit earned by him is
Question 12 of 29
CAT 2022 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
Amal buys 110 kg110 \mathrm{~kg} of syrup and 120 kg120 \mathrm{~kg} of juice, syrup being 20\% less costly than juice, per kg. He sells 10 kg10 \mathrm{~kg} of syrup at 10\% profit and 20 kg20 \mathrm{~kg} of juice at 20%20 \% profit. Mixing the remaining juice and syrup, Amal sells the mixture at Rs. 308.32308.32 per kg and makes an overall profit of 64%64 \%. Then, Amal's cost price for syrup, in rupees per kg, is
TITA Answer:
Question 13 of 29
CAT 2022 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
Ankita buys 4 kg4 \mathrm{~kg} cashews, 14 kg14 \mathrm{~kg} peanuts and 6 kg6 \mathrm{~kg} almonds when the cost of 7 kg7 \mathrm{~kg} cashews is the same as that of 30 kg30 \mathrm{~kg} peanuts or 9 kg9 \mathrm{~kg} almonds. She mixes all the three nuts and marks a price for the mixture in order to make a profit of Rs.1752. She sells 44 kg of the mixture at this marked price and the remaining at a 20%20 \% discount on the marked price, thus making a total profit of Rs. 744. Then the amount, in rupees, that she had spent in buying almonds is
Question 14 of 29
CAT 2021 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Amal purchases some pens at ₹ 88 each. To sell these, he hires an employee at a fixed wage. He sells 100100 of these pens at 12₹ 12 each. If the remaining pens are sold at 11₹ 11 each, then he makes a net profit of ₹ 300300, while he makes a net loss of ₹ 300300 if the remaining pens are sold at ₹ 99 each. The wage of the employee, in INR, is
TITA Answer:
Question 15 of 29
CAT 2021 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Identical chocolate pieces are sold in boxes of two sizes, small and large. The large box is sold for twice the price of the small box. If the selling price per gram of chocolate in the large box is 12%12 \% less than that in the small box, then the percentage by which the weight of chocolate in the large box exceeds that in the small box is nearest to
Question 16 of 29
CAT 2021 Slot 3QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
One part of a hostel's monthly expenses is fixed, and the other part is proportional to the number of its boarders. The hostel collects 16001600 per month from each boarder. When the number of boarders is 5050, the profit of the hostel is 200200 per boarder, and when the number of boarders is 7575, the profit of the hostel is 250250 per boarder. When the number of boarders is 8080, the total profit of the hostel, in INR, will be
Question 17 of 29
CAT 2020 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossEasy
A person spent Rs 5000050000 to purchase a desktop computer and a laptop computer. He sold the desktop at 20%20\% profit and the laptop at 10%10\% loss. If overall he made a 2%2\% profit then the purchase price, in rupees, of the desktop is
TITA Answer:
Question 18 of 29
CAT 2020 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Anil buys 1212 toys and labels each with the same selling price. He sells 88 toys initially at 20%20 \% discount on the labeled price. Then he sells the remaining 44 toys at an additional 25%25 \% discount on the discounted price. Thus, he gets a total of Rs 2112,2112, and makes a 10%10\% profit. With no discounts, his percentage of profit would have been
Question 19 of 29
CAT 2020 Slot 3QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
A man buys 3535 kg of sugar and sets a marked price in order to make a 20%20\% profit. He sells 55 kg at this price, and 1515 kg at a 10%10\% discount. Accidentally, 33 kg of sugar is wasted. He sells the remaining sugar by raising the marked price by pp percent so as to make an overall profit of 15%15\%. Then pp is nearest to
Question 20 of 29
CAT 2019 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossEasy
Mukesh purchased 1010 bicycles in 20172017, all at the same price. He sold six of these at a profit of 25%25 \% and the remaining four at a loss of 25%25 \%. If he made a total profit of Rs. 2000,2000, then his purchase price of a bicycle, in Rupees, was
Question 21 of 29
CAT 2019 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossEasy
A shopkeeper sells two tables, each procured at cost price pp, to Amal and Asim at a profit of 20%20\% and at a loss of 20%20\%, respectively. Amal sells his table to Bimal at a profit of 30%30\%, while Asim sells his table to Barun at a loss of 30%30\%. If the amounts paid by Bimal and Barun are xx and yy, respectively, then (xy)/p(x -y) / p equals
Question 22 of 29
CAT 2018 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
Two types of tea, AA and BB, are mixed and then sold at Rs. 4040 per kg. The profit is 10%10 \% if A and B are mixed in the ratio 3:23: 2, and 5%5 \% if this ratio is 2:32: 3. The cost prices, per kg , of AA and BB are in the ratio
Question 23 of 29
CAT 2018 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
A wholesaler bought walnuts and peanuts, the price of walnut per kg being thrice that of peanut per kg . He then sold 8 kg8 \mathrm{~kg} of peanuts at a profit of 10%10 \% and 16 kg16 \mathrm{~kg} of walnuts at a profit of 20%20 \% to a shopkeeper. However, the shopkeeper lost 5 kg5 \mathrm{~kg} of walnuts and 3 kg3 \mathrm{~kg} of peanuts in transit. He then mixed the remaining nuts and sold the mixture at Rs. 166166 per kg, thus making an overall profit of 25%25 \%. At what price, in Rs. per kg, did the wholesaler buy the walnuts?
Question 24 of 29
CAT 2017 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossEasy
The manufacturer of a table sells it to a wholesale dealer at a profit of 10%10 \%. The wholesale dealer sells the table to a retailer at a profit of 30%30\%. Finally, the retailer sells it to a customer at a profit of 50%50\%. If the customer pays Rs 42904290 for the table, then its manufacturing cost (in Rs) is
Question 25 of 29
CAT 2017 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossEasy
Mayank buys some candies for Rs 1515 a dozen and an equal number of different candies for Rs 1212 a dozen. He sells all for Rs 16.5016.50 a dozen and makes a profit of Rs 150150. How many dozens of candies did he buy altogether?

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Frequently Asked Questions about CAT Profit, Loss & Discount Questions

Why are Profit & Loss questions crucial for scoring 99+ percentile in CAT?

CAT convenors place heavy emphasis on testing core intuition in Profit & Loss problems. Mastering standard patterns allows candidates to secure +3 marks with high accuracy and minimal time.

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Yes, 100% of the questions in this module are official previous year questions administered in CAT 2017 through CAT 2025.

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