1969 AHSME Problems/Problem 2

Problem

If an item is sold for $x$ dollars, there is a loss of $15\%$ based on the cost. If, however, the same item is sold for $y$ dollars, there is a profit of $15\%$ based on the cost. The ratio of $y:x$ is:

$\text{(A) } 23:17\quad \text{(B) } 17y:23\quad \text{(C) } 23x:17\quad \\ \text{(D) dependent upon the cost} \quad \text{(E) none of these.}$

Solution

Let $c$ be the cost. If selling the item for $x$ dollars equates to losing $15\%$ of $c$ , then $x=.85c$ . If selling the item for $y$ dollars equates to profiting by $15\%$ of $c$ , then $y=1.15c$ . Therefore $\frac{y}{x}=\frac{1.15c}{.85c}=23/17$ . The answer is $\fbox{A}$ .

1969 AHSC (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 1	Followed by Problem 3
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1969 AHSME Problems/Problem 2

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