Last visit was: 19 Jul 2025, 23:22 It is currently 19 Jul 2025, 23:22
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 19 Jul 2025
Posts: 102,627
Own Kudos:
742,833
 [4]
Given Kudos: 98,235
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 102,627
Kudos: 742,833
 [4]
Kudos
Add Kudos
4
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
Dashingnightmare
Joined: 25 Jan 2019
Last visit: 14 Mar 2022
Posts: 14
Own Kudos:
14
 [1]
Given Kudos: 40
Posts: 14
Kudos: 14
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
ScottTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 18 Jul 2025
Posts: 21,145
Own Kudos:
26,205
 [2]
Given Kudos: 296
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 21,145
Kudos: 26,205
 [2]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
ShaikhMoice
Joined: 25 Jan 2021
Last visit: 25 Aug 2022
Posts: 97
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 475
Posts: 97
Kudos: 40
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
ScottTargetTestPrep
Bunuel
Girish bought a car and got a dealer’s discount of 15% on the original price. He sold it at a profit of 20% on the purchase price. If he had got a discount of 12% on the original price and had sold it for the same profit percentage of the purchase price, what would be the difference in the profit percentages of the two transactions?

A 2%
B 3.6%
C 5%
D 5.6%
E 8%
Solution:

Let’s assume that the original price of the car was $100. Thus, for the first transaction, Girish paid 100 x 0.85 = $85 for the car. He sold the car for 85 x 1.2 = $102, which is a profit of $2 over the original price of the car of $100. Thus, his profit (based on the original price) is 2/100 = 2%.

For the hypothetical second transaction, he would have paid 100 x 0.88 = $88 for the car. He would have sold the car for 88 x 1.2 = $105.6, which is a profit of $5.60 over the original price of the car. Thus, his profit would have been 5.6/100 = 5.6%.

The difference in the profit percentages is 5.6% - 2% = 3.6%.

Answer: B


Thanks for the solution, just 1 question though
while calculating the profit percentage why are you using 100 instead of 85 in 1st case and instead of 88 in the 2nd case.
Thanks in advance
User avatar
ScottTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 18 Jul 2025
Posts: 21,145
Own Kudos:
26,205
 [1]
Given Kudos: 296
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 21,145
Kudos: 26,205
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
ShaikhMoice
ScottTargetTestPrep
Bunuel
Girish bought a car and got a dealer’s discount of 15% on the original price. He sold it at a profit of 20% on the purchase price. If he had got a discount of 12% on the original price and had sold it for the same profit percentage of the purchase price, what would be the difference in the profit percentages of the two transactions?

A 2%
B 3.6%
C 5%
D 5.6%
E 8%
Solution:

Let’s assume that the original price of the car was $100. Thus, for the first transaction, Girish paid 100 x 0.85 = $85 for the car. He sold the car for 85 x 1.2 = $102, which is a profit of $2 over the original price of the car of $100. Thus, his profit (based on the original price) is 2/100 = 2%.

For the hypothetical second transaction, he would have paid 100 x 0.88 = $88 for the car. He would have sold the car for 88 x 1.2 = $105.6, which is a profit of $5.60 over the original price of the car. Thus, his profit would have been 5.6/100 = 5.6%.

The difference in the profit percentages is 5.6% - 2% = 3.6%.

Answer: B


Thanks for the solution, just 1 question though
while calculating the profit percentage why are you using 100 instead of 85 in 1st case and instead of 88 in the 2nd case.
Thanks in advance

The exact words in the question regarding the quantity that we need to calculate is "What would be the difference in the profit percentages of the two transactions?". Now, there are two possible ways to interpret "profit" in this question: the actual profit that the dealer makes (i.e. the dealer's selling price - the amount the dealer paid for the price), and profit over the original price (i.e. the dealer's selling price - the original price of the car without discount). This question actually makes sense only if we use the latter interpretation. Expressed as a percent, the former is actually 20% for both scenarios. Let's verify this:

If we calculate the profit percentage when the dealer pays $85 and sells for $102, we get (102 - 85)/85 = 17/85 = 20%.

If we calculate the profit percentage when the dealer pays $88 and sells for $105.6, we get (105.6 - 88)/88 = 17.6/88 = 20%.

As you can see, using the numbers you mentioned, one calculates the difference between the profit percentages as 20 - 20 = 0, which is not even among the answer choices. That is why we should use the profit based on the original price in this question.
avatar
harvar
Joined: 31 Aug 2020
Last visit: 03 Mar 2022
Posts: 2
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 2
Location: India
Posts: 2
Kudos: 4
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Dashingnightmare
Bunuel
Girish bought a car and got a dealer’s discount of 15% on the original price. He sold it at a profit of 20% on the purchase price. If he had got a discount of 12% on the original price and had sold it for the same profit percentage of the purchase price, what would be the difference in the profit percentages of the two transactions?

A 2%
B 3.6%
C 5%
D 5.6%
E 8%

B.
case 1: 20-15-3 =2%
case 2: 20-12-2.4=5.6%
Difference =5.6-2= 3.6% Hence B.


can someone explain why -3 and -2.4 in the above solution?
avatar
GreatII
Joined: 13 Nov 2021
Last visit: 11 Jan 2022
Posts: 9
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 26
Posts: 9
Kudos: 6
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Couldnt the word same mean 12 %?
avatar
SaurabhPatil20
Joined: 14 Aug 2021
Last visit: 01 Jul 2025
Posts: 36
Own Kudos:
16
 [3]
Given Kudos: 106
Location: India
GMAT Focus 1: 595 Q79 V79 DI80
GMAT 1: 410 Q43 V8
GMAT 2: 590 Q48 V25
WE:Analyst (Consulting)
Products:
GMAT Focus 1: 595 Q79 V79 DI80
GMAT 2: 590 Q48 V25
Posts: 36
Kudos: 16
 [3]
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The best method to solve this problem is by successive percentage calculation method:
Case 1: -15 + 20 - (-15*20/100) = 2
Case 2: -12 + 20 + (-12*20/100)= 5.6
Therefore difference 5.6-2= 3.6

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
StringArgs
Joined: 08 Dec 2021
Last visit: 06 Apr 2023
Posts: 53
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 39
Status:Patience
Location: India
Posts: 53
Kudos: 13
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
SaurabhPatil20
The best method to solve this problem is by successive percentage calculation method:
Case 1: -15 + 20 - (-15*20/100) = 2
Case 2: -12 + 20 + (-12*20/100)= 5.6
Therefore difference 5.6-2= 3.6

Posted from my mobile device
Hi SaurabhPatil20 could you explain your reasoning behind the numbers?

Edit: I see that this is the concept used https://gmatclub.com/forum/excellent-method-for-calculating-successive-percentages-185973.html#p1423049

Thanks
User avatar
Abhishek009
User avatar
Board of Directors
Joined: 11 Jun 2011
Last visit: 18 Jul 2025
Posts: 5,965
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 463
Status:QA & VA Forum Moderator
Location: India
GPA: 3.5
WE:Business Development (Commercial Banking)
Posts: 5,965
Kudos: 5,162
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Bunuel
Girish bought a car and got a dealer’s discount of 15% on the original price. He sold it at a profit of 20% on the purchase price. If he had got a discount of 12% on the original price and had sold it for the same profit percentage of the purchase price, what would be the difference in the profit percentages of the two transactions?

A 2%
B 3.6%
C 5%
D 5.6%
E 8%

CASE - I

Let Original Price be 100 ; Discounted Price will be 85 , SP will be 112% of 85 = 95.20


CASE - II

Let Original Price be 100 ; Discounted Price will be 88 , SP will be 112% of 88 = 98.56

Difference in the profit percentages of the two transactions will be (98.56-95.20)/95.20*100 ~ 3.60%, Answer must be (B)
User avatar
bumpbot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 09 Sep 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 37,452
Own Kudos:
Posts: 37,452
Kudos: 1,013
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello from the GMAT Club BumpBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
Moderators:
Math Expert
102627 posts
PS Forum Moderator
698 posts