Percentage, Profit & Loss: 12 Shortcuts for SSC & Banking

Percentage and Profit & Loss together carry 4-6 questions in most competitive exams. These shortcuts will save you significant time.

Percentage Shortcuts

1. Fraction equivalents: 25% = 1/4, 33.33% = 1/3, 20% = 1/5, 12.5% = 1/8. Use fractions instead of percentages for faster calculation.

2. Successive percentages: Two increases of a% and b% = a + b + ab/100. Example: 10% and 20% increase = 10 + 20 + 200/100 = 32%.

Profit & Loss Shortcuts

3. Profit/Loss percentage: If CP:SP = a:b, then Profit% = (b-a)/a × 100. 4. Discount and markup: If markup is M% and discount is D%, then effective profit% = M - D - MD/100.

5. False weight: If shopkeeper uses weight of w gm instead of 1000 gm, Profit% = (1000-w)/w × 100.