SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 12 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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A dealer sells a packet of cookies at Rs. 120 after giving a 25% discount on the marked price. If the profit earned is 20%, find the cost price.

(a)Rs. 96
(b)Rs. 90
(c)Rs. 100
(d)Rs. 80

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Profit is a percentage of the cost price, so the ₹120 selling price is 120% of CP. The 25% discount links SP to the marked price, not to cost.

SP = 1.2 × CP
CP = 120 ÷ 1.2 = ₹100
Check: profit 120 − 100 = 20, which is 20% of 100 → option (c)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Rs. 96 — ₹96 takes 20% off the selling price: 120 × 0.8. Profit is measured on cost, and at CP ₹96 the ₹24 profit would be 25%, not 20%.
(b)
Rs. 90 — ₹90 applies the 25% discount to ₹120 again: 120 × 0.75. The discount was already used to get from the marked price to ₹120. At CP ₹90 the profit would be 33⅓%.
(d)
Rs. 80 — ₹80 would make the ₹40 profit 50% of cost, not 20%. A 20% profit on ₹80 gives a selling price of ₹96, not ₹120.

Concept

Discount and profit use different bases.

A discount is a percentage of the marked price: SP = MP × (1 − d⁄100). A profit is a percentage of the cost price: SP = CP × (1 + p⁄100).

Here SP is given, so the profit equation alone gives CP. The discount only fixes the marked price: 120 ÷ 0.75 = ₹160.

The 25% discount is extra information for this question. It tells you the marked price, ₹160, which is not asked, and plays no part in the cost price.

Key facts

Profit % = (SP − CP) ⁄ CP × 100, always on cost.
Discount % = (MP − SP) ⁄ MP × 100, always on the marked price.
Here MP = ₹160, SP = ₹120 and CP = ₹100, so the article is marked 60% above cost.

Study next

Finding the markup percentage from a given discount and profitSuccessive discounts and their single equivalentA fixed cash discount taken after a percentage discount

Common traps

Reducing SP by 20% (120 × 0.8 = 96). A 20% profit on cost means dividing by 1.2, not multiplying by 0.8.
Feeding the 25% discount into the cost-price calculation. It acts on the marked price only.

18 Sep 2025, 09:00, Quant Q.5 is the same two-step: a watch marked ₹800 sells at 15% discount for ₹680, and a 20% profit keys the cost price ₹566.67 (680 ÷ 1.2).

26 Sep 2025, 12:30, Quant Q.15 gives the discount and the profit in rupees, and keys a cost price of Rs. 540.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Discount — all 78 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.