Study Material — 16 PYQs (2020–2020) · Concept Notes · Shortcuts
SSC MTS Discount & MP is a frequently tested subtopic — 16 previous year questions from 2020–2020 papers are included below with concept notes, key rules and shortcut tricks.
If the marked price of a book is ₹450 and a discount of 15% is given, what amount does the customer pay?
Exam Q 42020Previous Year Pattern
A retailer sells an item for ₹720 at a loss of 10%. What was the cost price of the item?
Exam Q 52020Previous Year Pattern
The marked price of a shirt is ₹1000. After giving two successive discounts of 10% and 5%, what is the final selling price?
Exam Q 62020Previous Year Pattern
A merchant buys goods for ₹1200 and marks them at ₹1600. If he offers a discount of 10%, what is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 72020Previous Year Pattern
A merchant offers a 30% discount on the marked price of an article. Even after the discount, he makes a profit of 20% on the cost price. If the cost price is ₹350, what is the marked price?
Exam Q 82020Previous Year Pattern
The marked price of an item is 40% more than its cost price. A discount of 25% is given on the marked price. If the selling price is ₹630, what is the cost price?
Exam Q 92020Previous Year Pattern
A shopkeeper marks an article at ₹1200. He gives successive discounts of 10% and 15%. What is the final selling price?
Exam Q 102020Previous Year Pattern
A trader buys 100 articles at ₹50 each. He marks them at ₹80 each and offers a discount of 12.5% on the marked price. What is his total profit?
Exam Q 112020Previous Year Pattern
A retailer buys goods at ₹2400 per dozen. He marks them up by 50% and offers a discount of 20% on the marked price. What is his profit per unit?
Exam Q 122020Previous Year Pattern
A shopkeeper marks an article at ₹1200. He offers a discount of 15% on the marked price. However, he still makes a profit of 20% on the cost price. If he later offers an additional discount of 5% on the already discounted price to a bulk buyer, what is the cost price of the article?
Exam Q 132020Previous Year Pattern
A vendor buys articles at ₹60 per unit and marks them at ₹100 per unit. He offers a discount of d% on the marked price. After selling 80 units at this discounted price, he realizes his total profit is ₹1600. What is the discount percentage d?
Exam Q 142020Previous Year Pattern
A retailer buys goods at ₹80 per unit. He marks them up by 60% and offers a discount of 25% during a sale. Later, he realizes his profit margin is lower than expected and decides to increase the marked price by 10% (on the new marked price after the first markup). What is the new selling price if the same 25% discount is applied to the revised marked price?
Exam Q 152020Previous Year Pattern
A merchant offers two successive discounts: first 20%, then 15% on the marked price of ₹500. However, he realizes that after these discounts, his profit is only 12.5%. He then decides to offer a single discount of x% on the marked price such that his profit remains 12.5%. What is the value of x?
Exam Q 162020Previous Year Pattern
A trader marks goods at ₹2000. He offers a discount of 10% to regular customers. However, for bulk orders (50+ units), he offers an additional 5% discount on the already-discounted price. A customer buys 60 units at the bulk rate. If the trader's profit on the bulk order is 25%, what is the cost price per unit?
Concept Notes
Discount & MP— Rules & Concept
💡
Core Concept
Read this first — the foundation of the topic
→Core Concept
Marked Price (MP) is the price tag on an item - what the seller claims is the original price. Discount is the reduction given on this marked price. The final price customer pays is called Selling Price (SP)
finding MP when SP and discount% are given, calculating profit when discount is involved, successive discounts, and false discount problems.
Shortcut #1 - Direct SP Formula: When discount% is given, SP = MP × (100-d)/100. For 20% discount: SP = 0.8 × MP
Shortcut #2 - Successive Discounts: For two discounts of a% and b%, combined discount = a + b - (ab/100). For 10% and 20%: Combined = 10 + 20 - (200/100) = 28%
Worked Example 1: A shopkeeper marks an article 40% above cost price. He gives 25% discount and still makes Rs. 20 profit.
Find the cost price
→Solution
Let CP = 100
MP = CP + 40% = 100 + 40 = 140
After 25% discount: SP = 140 × 75/100 = 105
Profit = SP - CP = 105 - 100 = 5
If profit of 5 gives Rs. 20, then CP = 20 × 100/5 = Rs. 400
Worked Example 2: A trader allows 16% discount on marked price and still gains 5%. If the article costs Rs. 50, what is the marked price
→Solution
CP = Rs. 50
Gain = 5%, so SP = 50 × 105/100 = Rs. 52.50
Discount = 16%, so SP = MP × 84/100
52.50 = MP × 84/100
MP = 52.50 × 100/84 = Rs. 62.50
Shortcut #3 - Quick MP Calculation: When SP and discount% are known, use MP = SP ÷ (1 - d/100). For 20% discount: MP = SP ÷ 0.8
Most Common Trap: Students confuse discount% base. Discount% is ALWAYS calculated on Marked Price, never on Cost Price or Selling Price. Many students calculate discount on CP and get wrong answers
💡Remember
Discount% = (Discount/MP) × 100, not (Discount/CP) × 100.
Another frequent error is in successive discount problems. Students simply add the percentages instead of using the formula. For 10% and 15% discounts, combined is NOT 25%, but 23.5%
💡Practical Tip
When solving discount problems, always identify what is given and what needs to be found
→Draw the relationship
CP → MP → SP. Mark the percentages between each step. This visual approach prevents calculation errors and saves time in exams.
Key Points to Remember
SP = MP - Discount (basic relationship for all discount problems)
Discount% is always calculated on Marked Price, never on Cost Price
Quick SP formula: SP = MP × (100-d)/100 where d is discount%
Successive discount formula: Combined% = a + b - (ab/100)