3. Mr. Murray sold at an increase of 15% a horse that cost

MR. MURRAY'S HORSE

$200. How much money

was gained? What was the selling price?

4. Mr. Emory bought 1000 yards of dress goods for 62 cents a yard and sold them at an advance of 30% on the cost. What did he receive for the goods?

5. A man bought some fat cattle for $520 and sold them for beef at an advance of 25% on the cost to him. How much did he receive for them?

6. A dealer, who has $100 to invest, finds that he can make 28% if he invests it in turkeys, or 32% if he invests it in chickens. How much more will he make if he buys chickens than turkeys?

Finding the Per Cent of Mark-up or Per Cent of Loss on the Cost. If Harry Smith should buy a kite for 80 cents and sell it for $1.00, he would make 20 cents on the deal. This is his margin. If Harry had no

overhead" expenses, this would also be his profit. This difference, if reckoned as a per cent of the cost, is called mark-up. In the case of Harry's kite he made 20 cents on an investment of 80 cents. He, therefore, made a mark-up of 28 or 1 or 25% on his investment.

Sometimes dealers are so unfortunate that they have to sell goods for less than cost. In this case there is a

FINDING PER CENT OF GAIN OR LOSS ON COST 225

loss which is also usually computed as a per cent of the cost.

Illustrative Example. During the War a grocer bought sugar at 12 cents a pound. Soon afterwards the War ended, prices dropped, and he was obliged to sell it at 10 cents a pound. What per cent did he lose on his first cost of the sugar?

Solution: He lost 2 cents on each pound which cost him 12 cents. Hence he lost or or 16% on the cost.

COACH AND PLAYER PRACTICE IN ESTIMATES The Steering Committee should divide the class into coaches and players. The committee with the teacher's assistance should decide which of the 15 examples beginning on page 226 are adapted to estimates; examples omitted will be used for another purpose.

Each coach and player should write an estimate for each example selected for estimating. Then the player should work the example on paper and the coach should check the answer; in case of doubt call on the Steering Committee. Score one for the estimate of player or coach of each couple which is nearer to the correct answer. In the same manner the rest of the estimates should be written, worked, checked, and scored.

At the end of the estimate work the Steering Committee should total the scores made by all coaches and the scores made by all players. Before deciding whether coaches or players win the game the Steering Committee may give the players a handicap.

After the contest the Steering Committee should work on the blackboard the problems not selected for estimating.

Oral Work Saves Business Time

1. $3 is what per cent mark-up on a cost of $24?

2. If the cost is 15 cents and the increase is 3 cents, what per cent mark-up is this on the cost?

3. A loss of 3 cents on a cost of 18 cents is

loss.

per cent

4. The cost is 25 cents. The loss is 10 cents. Find the loss per cent on the cost.

5. A man buys a cow for $80 and sells her at an increase of $10. What is his per cent of mark-up?

Exercise

1. A man bought a house for $10,000 and sold it at an advance of $1000. What was his per cent of mark-up?

2. Mr. Berry sold a mill, which cost him $25,000, for $5000 less than he paid for it. What per cent did he lose?

3. Copy the following form and complete it by filling in all missing spaces:

4. Alice Smith's father owns a grocery store. Last month he bought 60 dozen eggs at 40 cents a dozen, and sold them at 48 cents a dozen. What was his margin in dollars?

5. A fruit dealer bought oranges at 48 cents a dozen and sold them at 60 cents a dozen. What per cent margin did he make?

6. A huckster bought 100 bushels of apples from a farmer for 50 cents a bushel, and sold them in the market at 65 cents a bushel. What per cent of increase did he make on the cost of all? on the cost of one bushel?

7. A merchant bought two dresses, one for $24 and the other for $28.50, and sold them for $32 and $40 respectively. What per cent was his margin on the cost of each dress?

8. If a newsboy buys his papers at 14 cents apiece and sells them at 2 cents apiece, what is his per cent of mark-up?

9. What is the per cent of loss if an article, which cost $8, is sold for $6?

10. A merchant bought 370 yards of cotton cloth at 8 cents a yard and sold it all for $37.00. What was his per cent of margin?

11. What is the loss per cent on goods bought for $7650 and sold for $6575?

12. A boy had 42 cents in the morning but lost 7 cents on his way home from school. What per cent of his money did he lose?

What

13. An automobile cost $1500 but on account of a death in the family was sold for $1150 before it was used. was the per cent of loss?

14. A suit of clothes cost the merchant $24.00. He was obliged to sell it for $20. Find the per cent of his loss.

15. James bought a new motorboat for $350 but on account of having to move a great distance away he sold it for $200. What per cent did he lose on the cost?

Computing Per Cent of Margin on the Selling Price. Most business firms today compute their per cent margin on the selling price. For example, an unfinished article costs 20 cents. Work to put it into finished condition for sale and overhead expenses of selling bring the total cost to 90 cents. The Selling Price is $1.20. The margin between the first cost of the unfinished article and the selling price of the finished article is $1.20 .20 $1.00. But the net profit is $1.20 .90.30. It is customary to compute the gain per

=

cent on the selling price, or in this case r =

= 25%; therefore, the per cent of gain on the

selling price is 25%.

Practically all large business houses now compute their per cent of gain on the selling price as shown in the above illustration. Large businesses like chain stores and department stores are run on a small net