Study the given table and answer the question that follows. The given table shows the production of three types of cars (A, B and C) manufactured (in thousands) by an automobile company over the years. Year → A | B | C 2015 — 840 | 680 | 890 2016 — 900 | 750 | 960 2017 — 760 | 620 | 1000 2018 — 800 | 540 | 1200 The total number of A-type cars produced by the company from 2015 to 2017 is what percentage (rounded off to the nearest integer) is more or less than the total number of C-type cars produced by the company from 2016 to 2018?

Correct — D. The stem asks for two different three-year windows, so add exactly the cells it names.

A-type, 2015 to 2017: 840 + 900 + 760 = 2,500
C-type, 2016 to 2018: 960 + 1,000 + 1,200 = 3,160

A's total is the smaller, so the direction word is Less.

Difference = 3,160 − 2,500 = 660
Percentage = 660⁄3,160 × 100 = 20.886…%
Rounded to the nearest integer that is 21%

Less, 21% is option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  More, 21% — Option (a), More, 21%, has the number right and the direction wrong. A's 2,500 sits below C's 3,160, so the comparison can only be a shortfall.
• (b)
  More, 24% — Option (b), More, 24%, is wrong twice over. The direction is Less, and the two totals the stem names give 660⁄3,160 = 20.886%, which rounds to 21.
• (c)
  Less,24% — Option (c), printed Less,24%, gets the direction right and the size wrong. 660 ÷ 3,160 = 0.2089, and a genuine 24% would need the gap to be about 758.

In the phrasing x is what percentage more or less than y, the quantity after *than* is the base. Here that is the C-type total, so 3,160 goes on the bottom.

The calculation is (y − x) ÷ y × 100 when x is the smaller, and the direction word simply records which of the two is bigger.

Both halves of the option — the word and the number — have to be right, so the base is worth one deliberate second before the arithmetic starts.

Key facts

• A-type production for 2015, 2016 and 2017 is 840 + 900 + 760 = 2,500 thousand.
• C-type production for 2016, 2017 and 2018 is 960 + 1,000 + 1,200 = 3,160 thousand.
• In 'x is what per cent more or less than y', the base is y — here the C total of 3,160.
• 660 as a share of 3,160 is 20.886%, which rounds to 21%.

Common traps

• Dividing the 660 gap by 2,500 instead of 3,160, which returns 26.4% and matches no option.
• Reading both totals across the same three years and missing that the windows are offset.
• Choosing the right number with the wrong word, since More, 21% is on offer beside Less, 21%.

No directly related past PYQ was found.