SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 3 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 22 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The following table shows the expenditure of a factory (in ₹ lakh) per annum on different heads over the given years. Year/Expenditure Head → Salary | Transport | Bonus | Loan Interest 1998 — 125 | 38 | 8 | 25 1999 — 135 | 45 | 18 | 37 2000 — 149 | 57 | 37 | 39 2001 — 153 | 63 | 50 | 43 What was the average expenditure (in ₹ lakh) on transport per year that the factory had to pay during the given period?

(a)50.75
(b)45.58
(c)48.75
(d)56.63

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The stem is a table of a factory's expenditure in ₹ lakh for 1998 to 2001 under four heads. The question wants the mean of the Transport column.

Transport entries: 38, 45, 57, 63
38 + 45 = 83
83 + 57 = 140
140 + 63 = 203

Average = 203 ⁄ 4 = 50.75 → option (a).
Sanity check: the mean of four whole numbers must land on a multiple of 0.25, and 50.75 does.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
45.58 — 45.58 implies a column total of 45.58 × 4 = 182.32. Four whole numbers cannot total a fraction, so this is impossible before you even compare it with the true 203.
(c)
48.75 — 48.75 × 4 = 195, eight short of the real column total of 203. It is the figure an addition that loses 8 somewhere arrives at.
(d)
56.63 — 56.63 implies a total of 226.52 — again not a whole number, and more than 23 above the true total of 203.

Concept

The average of a column is its total divided by the number of entries. The only difficulty SSC builds in is reading the right column and counting the right number of years.

This table crosses four years, 1998 to 2001, against four heads: Salary, Transport, Bonus and Loan Interest. 'Per year during the given period' means all four years, so the divisor is 4 — the number of years, not the number of heads.

A check worth making before you look at the options: the mean of whole numbers over 4 must end in .00, .25, .50 or .75. Two of the four options here fail that test on sight.

The rupee figures are given in ₹ lakh and the answer is asked in ₹ lakh, so no conversion is needed anywhere. The Salary, Bonus and Loan Interest columns play no part in this question.

Key facts

The Transport entries for 1998 to 2001 are 38, 45, 57 and 63.
They total 203, and 203 divided by 4 is 50.75.
The given period runs across four years, so the divisor is 4.
The mean of four integers is always a multiple of 0.25.

Study next

Average of a row against average of a column in the same tablePercentage share of one head in a single year's total expenditureFinding a missing table entry when the average is given

Common traps

Dividing by 5 out of habit from the more common five-year tables
Averaging the Salary column, which carries the largest figures and catches the eye first
Adding 38, 45, 57 and 63 as 200 and answering 50

The average-from-a-table step is set again at Quant Q.15 of this paper, where company C's low rates are measured against their own average. Quant Q.20 puts a ratio on a comparable sales table, so the reading skill carries across even when the operation changes.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.