2. A grocer buys cheese at 26¢ a pound; lard at 28¢ a pound; sugar at $7.95 per hundred pounds; and canned salmon at $2 per dozen cans. He intends to sell so as to make 10% of the cost. Find the selling prices, correct to the nearest cent.

3. In a factory the wages per hour for four different grades of employees were as follows: 80¢, 65¢, 55¢, 42¢. All of these wages were increased 84%. Find the resulting hourly wages, correct to the nearest cent.

4. Find numbers of which the following are 121% 8.2, 45, 921, .065, 2, 1o.

5. Find numbers of which the following are 163% 16, 4.8, .003, 1, 3, .7.

6. Find numbers of which the following are 75%: 60, 300, .018,,, .05.

7. Find numbers of which the following are 66% 28, 420, .08, .006, 64.25, .12.

8. A wholesale merchant sold $45,000 worth of goods during a certain year. The next year his sales increased 25% and the year following his sales decreased 20%. What were his sales the third year?

9. During his first year of employment a clerk gets $75 a month. During the second year his monthly salary is 10% more than during the first year, and during the third year 10% less than the second year. Find his monthly salary during the second and third years.

10. A number is increased 50%, and then this result decreased 50%. Is the final result the same as if the number had been decreased 50% and this result increased 50%? Is the final result the same as the original number in either case?

11. A number is increased 50%, then this result is increased 331%, and then this result increased 50%. By what per cent is the original number increased each time?

66. Profit and loss based on the initial cost. To make a success of any business it is necessary to keep an account of the amount invested, the expenses, the receipts, and profits and losses. In many cases the rate of profit or loss is computed as a per cent of the initial cost, without considering other expenses.

Exercise 74

1. A dealer bought a horse for $250 and sold it at a profit of 18%. Find the profit and the selling price.

2. Find the selling prices of the following articles which are sold at 20% above cost:

3. On a certain day during the World War the United States Food Administration published the following buying and selling prices for retailers of food :

Find the per cent of profit allowed the retailer in each case,

correct to .1%.

4. A department store advertises the following:

Suits formerly sold for $75, now $25. Coats formerly sold for $75, now $35. Coats formerly sold for $50, now $25. Gowns formerly sold for $95, now $35.

Find the per cent that each former selling price has been reduced.

5. A house was sold at a profit of 20%. The selling price was $4800. Find the cost.

6. A dealer sells two books for $3 each. On one he gains 20% and on the other he loses 20%. Find the total gain or loss.

7. A merchant buys shoes at $42.50 a dozen pairs and sells them at $4.50 a pair. Find his per cent of gain on the cost.

8. The owner of a restaurant buys a 12-pound ham for 32¢ a pound. It loses 30% of its weight when baked. For what must he sell it a pound to gain 15%? Find the answer to the nearest cent.

9. Sold of a sack of coffee for of the cost of the whole sack. Find the rate per cent of gain.

10. Some merchants compute the rate of profit or loss as a per cent of the selling price. Using this plan compute the rate of profit on each article in exercise 3, correct to .1%.

67. Profit and loss based on total cost. The merchant who bases his per cent of profit on the initial cost of each article is very apt to become bankrupt while appearing to be making a good profit. If a man buys a horse for $100, keeps him for 6 months and then sells him for $125, it appears that he has made a profit of 25% on the horse. But if he has fed the horse for the 6 months at a cost of $24, and has paid $7 for his care, the man has had a total investment of $131 in the horse and has a net loss of $6.

The merchant who buys a boy's suit for $8.25 and sells it

for $12 should add to the initial cost of the suit the cost of selling it before computing his profit. This cost of selling includes such items as clerk hire, rent of building, interest on capital, and other business expenses.

These expenses for carrying on a business are called overhead expenses or overhead.

EXAMPLE. Suppose that the initial cost of an article is $50 and that the overhead expenses charged against it are $3.50. Then a gain of 20% means a gain of 20% of $53.50, or $10.70.

Exercise 75

1. A motor boat cost the dealer $380. for selling it are estimated to be $40. selling price to gain 15%?

Overhead expenses What must be the

2. A retail grocer estimates that his overhead expenses are 6% of the initial cost of the goods he sells. Find the selling price of the following if he gains 10% on the sum of the initial cost and the overhead. Fill out this table :

3. A merchant finds at the end of the year that the cost of goods sold during the year has been $257,438. The overhead charges are $40,896. His net profits are $28,942. Find the rate of profit on the amount expended.

4. The automobile department in a department store uses $125,000 capital. It is charged with $18,850 overhead. This department is expected to show a profit of 121% on the capital and overhead. What amount of profits is expected?

68. Commission. Some men are employed to buy or to sell goods for others. More frequently it is to sell goods or other property. Traveling salesmen who go from town to town selling goods for the wholesale houses are of this class. Others sell live stock for the farmers and stock dealers to the packing companies, and many others sell fruit and vegetables for the farmers to the grocers of the cities. These men are not usually paid for their services by the day but are paid a certain per cent of the selling price of the articles sold.

Pay computed in this way is called commission and the men who receive it are generally known as commission men.

A farmer who has a carload of hogs to sell may ship them to the city to a commission man. The commission man sells them to the packing company, receives the pay for them, deducts a certain per cent of the selling price as his pay or commission, and sends the farmer the balance.

Exercise 76

1. If you were to sell popcorn at the fair on a commission of 10%, how much would you be paid for selling 754 bags of popcorn at 5¢ each?

2. If you could sell 320 bags a day at 5¢ each and get a commission of 8%, would you earn as much as $1.25 a day?

3. Mr. Henry ships a carload of hogs to a commission man. The commission man sells them to a packing company for $6.75 a hundred pounds and charges 1% commission. The hogs weigh 14,700 pounds. How much is the commission?

4. The freight charges on a carload of cattle were $1.25 per hundred pounds. The commission firm charged 3% commission for selling them. The cattle weighed 24,280 pounds when sold, but had lost 235 pounds in shipment. The shipper paid $7.50 a hundred for them and the commission firm sold them for $8.45 a hundred. How much did the shipper make?