A person sold two different items at the same price. He made 10% profit in one item, and 10% loss in the other item. In selling these two items, the person made a total of
Answer
(C)
Explanation
Take a convenient selling price of 99 for each item.
- 10% profit: cost price \(= \frac{99}{1.1} = 90\).
- 10% loss: cost price \(= \frac{99}{0.9} = 110\).
The total cost is \(90 + 110 = 200\) and the total selling price is 198, so the person loses \(\frac{2}{200} \times 100 = 1\%\).
The profit and the loss do not cancel because the 10% loss is taken on the larger cost price. In general, equal selling prices with \(x\%\) profit and \(x\%\) loss always give a net loss of \(\frac{x^{2}}{100}\%\).
Answer: C