Profit & Loss Guide & Practice

1. Key Definitions & Terms

• Cost Price (CP): The price at which an article is purchased.
• Selling Price (SP): The price at which an article is sold.
• Marked Price (MP): The price printed on the label (List Price).
• Profit (Gain): Occurs when SP > CP.
• Loss: Occurs when CP > SP.
• Markup: The difference between Marked Price and Cost Price (MP - CP).
• Discount: The reduction offered on the Marked Price (MP - SP).

2. Core Formulas

Basic Profit & Loss

• Profit = SP - CP
• Loss = CP - SP
• Profit % = (Profit / CP) * 100
• Loss % = (Loss / CP) * 100

Finding SP and CP

• SP = CP * [(100 + Profit%) / 100]
• SP = CP * [(100 - Loss%) / 100]
• CP = [100 / (100 + Profit%)] * SP
• CP = [100 / (100 - Loss%)] * SP

Discount & Markup

• Discount % = (Discount / MP) * 100
• Markup % = (Markup / CP) * 100
• SP = MP * [(100 - Discount%) / 100]

Special Cases

• Successive Discounts (x%, y%): Net Discount = [x + y - (xy/100)]%
• Dishonest Dealer (False Weights): Gain % = [Error / (True Value - Error)] * 100
• Two items sold at same SP (one at x% profit, one at x% loss): Always a Loss % = (x / 10) ^ 2

Typical Exam Weightage

A staple arithmetic topic in every SSC and Banking prelims-level paper — consistently present across recent years.

Figures are typical ranges based on recent-year patterns, not a guarantee for any specific upcoming paper — always cross-check against the latest official syllabus and previous-year papers for Profit & Loss.