WORD PROBLEMS ON PERCENTAGE

Problem 1 :

John paid $64 for an item after 20% discount. Find the price of the item without discount. 

Solution :

Let x be the price of the item without discount. 

Given : John paid $64 for the item after 20% discount.

Then, we have

(100 - 20)% of x  =  64

0.8x  =  64

Divide each side by 0.8

x  =  80

So, the price of the item without discount is $80.

Problem 2 :

If A's salary is  20% less than B's salary. By what percent is B's salary more than A's salary ?

Solution :

Let us assume B's salary  =  $100 ----------(1)

Then, A's salary  =  $80 --------(2)

Now we have to find the percentage increase from (2) to (1). 

Difference between (1) and (2)  =  $ 20

Percentage increase from (2) to (1) is

=  (20/80) ⋅ 100%

=  25%

Hence,  B's salary is 25% more than A's salary. 

Problem 3 :

In an election, a candidate who gets 84% of votes is elected by majority with 588 votes. What is the total number of votes polled ?

Solution :

Let "x" be the total number of votes polled. 

Given : A candidate who gets 84% of votes is elected by majority of 476 votes

From the above information, we have 

84% of x  =  588 ---------> 0.84x  =  588

x  =  588 / 0.84

x  =  700

Hence,  the total number of votes polled 700.

Problem 4 :

When the price of a product was decreased by 10 % , the number sold increased by 30 %. What was the effect on the total revenue ?

Solution :

Before decrease in price and increase in sale, 

Let us assume that price per unit  =  $100.

Let us assume that the number of units sold  =  100

Then the total revenue  =  100 ⋅ 100  =  10000 --------(1)

After decrease 10 % in price and increase 30 % in sale,

Price per unit  =  $ 90.

Number of units sold  =  130

Then the total revenue  =  90 ⋅ 130  =  11700 --------(2)

From (1) and (2), it is clear that the revenue is increased. 

Difference between (1) and (2)  =  1700

Percent increase in revenue is

 =  (Actual increase / Original revenue) ⋅ 100 %  

=  (1700/10000) ⋅ 100 %

=  17 %

Hence,  the net effect in the total revenue is 17% increase. 

Problem 5 :

A student multiplied a number by 3/5 instead of 5/3. What is the percentage error in the calculation ?

Solution :

In the given two fractions, the denominators are 5 and 3. 

Let us assume a number which is divisible by both 5 and 3. 

Least common multiple of (5, 3)  =  15.

So, let the number be 15. 

15 ⋅ 3/5  =  9  ----------(1) ---------incorrect

15 ⋅ 5/3  =  25  ---------(2) --------correct

Difference between (1) and (2) is 16

Percentage error is 

=  (Actual error/Correct answer) ⋅ 100 % 

=  (16 / 25) ⋅ 100 % 

=  64%

Hence,  the percentage error in the calculation is 64%. 

Apart from the problems on percentage given above, if you need more problems on percentage, please click the following links. 

Percentage Word Problems - 1

Percentage Word Problems - 2

Percentage Word Problems - 3

Percentage Word Problems - 4

Percentage Word Problems - 5

Apart from the stuff given above, if you need any other stuff in math, please use our google custom search here.

You can also visit the following web pages on different stuff in math. 

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