The given table shows the expenditure of a company (in lakh rupees) per annum over the years. Year → Salary | Fuel and transport | Bonus | Interest on loan | Taxes 2005 — 212 | 78 | 4.00 | 24.6 | 88 2006 — 225 | 98 | 4.25 | 29.7 | 110 2007 — 236 | 105 | 4.75 | 36.8 | 125 2008 — 247 | 125 | 5.55 | 42.3 | 103 2009 — 295 | 145 | 6.25 | 49.6 | 118 2010 — 325 | 155 | 6.85 | 58.4 | 135 The total expenditure on all these categories in 2006 is what percentage (rounded off to two places of decimals) of the total expenditure in 2009?
- (a)66.07%
- (b)76.07%
- (c)76.09%
- (d)66.09%
Answer
Why
Correct — B. Total each year across the whole row, then divide.
2006: 225 + 98 + 4.25 + 29.7 + 110 = 466.95 lakh
2009: 295 + 145 + 6.25 + 49.6 + 118 = 613.85 lakh
466.95 ⁄ 613.85 = 0.76069
× 100 = 76.069%, which to two decimals is 76.07%
That is option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)66.07% — 66.07% carries the right decimals behind a wrong leading digit. The two totals differ by only 146.9 lakh, under a quarter of 613.85, so the ratio has to sit near three quarters.
- (c)76.09% — 76.09% sits two hundredths above the true 76.069%, so it survives a glance at the first three digits. Carry the division to four places, 0.76069, and round only at the end.
- (d)66.09% — 66.09% pairs the wrong leading digit with the wrong second decimal. Two thirds of 613.85 is only 409.2, well under 466.95, so the ratio cannot fall that low.
Concept
The table gives a company's yearly expenditure in ₹ lakh under five heads — Salary, Fuel and transport, Bonus, Interest on loan and Taxes — for 2005 to 2010.
"Total expenditure on all these categories" means the entire row, the small Bonus and Interest on loan figures included. Skipping them because they carry decimals is the commonest way to lose this mark.
After that it is one division: the 2006 row over the 2009 row, times 100.
Keep the decimals to the very end. Bonus (4.25 and 6.25) and Interest on loan (29.7 and 49.6) look negligible next to salaries in the hundreds, but dropping all four moves the answer to 77.60%.
That is more than a whole percentage point of drift on a question that asks for two decimal places.
Key facts
- The 2006 expenditure totals 466.95 lakh across the five heads.
- The 2009 expenditure totals 613.85 lakh across the same five heads.
- 466.95 ÷ 613.85 × 100 = 76.069%, printed to two decimals as 76.07%.
Study next
Common traps
- Adding only the three whole-number columns and skipping Bonus and Interest on loan.
- Settling for 76.09%, which differs from the answer only in the second decimal, instead of carrying the division far enough to separate them.
- Dividing 2009 by 2006 instead, which gives 131.46%.
Table data interpretation is one arithmetic step laid over figures you have to read off correctly.
The same expenditure-table layout is used 18 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.15, where bonus across the whole period is asked as a percentage of fuel and transport.
18 Sep 2024, 09:00, Quant Q.1 wants the five-year average of the fuel and transport column instead.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.