GRE Math : Percentage
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : How To Find The Sale Price
To promote a new ice cream flavor, an ice cream parlor is selling their $1.29 cones at 70% of the original price. Approximately how much will be saved by buying 4 of their cones?
$1.29
$.90
$3.16
$3.20
$1.56
$1.56
First let's calculate what 70% of $1.29 is: .7(1.29) = .9
Next, calculate how much 4 cones would have cost at the original price vs. the sale price:
4(1.29) = 5.16
4(.9) = 3.60
5.16 – 3.60 = $1.56 saved
Example Question #1 : How To Find The Sale Price
Betty buys a sweater for $36. The next week, Alice buys the same sweater on sale for 25% off. The week after that, Chelsea buys the same sweater that is now 15% off the sale price. How much did Chelsea spend on the sweater?
$21.60
$27
$30.60
$30
$22.95
$22.95
The sweater price starts at $36. Alice pays $36 – (.25 * $36) = $27. Chelsea then pays $27 – (.15 * $27) = $22.95, which is the correct answer.
When solving percentage questions such as this one, do NOT try to add up the discounts and find the final sale price all in one step. If you tried to do that here, the answer would have been $36 – (.25 + .15) * $36 = $21.60. This is an answer choice, but the wrong answer! Most GRE percentage questions will always give you this as one of your answer choices to try and trick you!
Example Question #82 : Percentage
How much does a sweater cost that is 18% more than a $50 dress?
55
54
64
59
68
59
18% of the dress is .18 * 50 = $9. Then the sweater costs $50 + $9 = $59.
Example Question #881 : Gre Quantitative Reasoning
Jenny is at a store and would like to buy a shirt. The shirt is labelled 
Based on the shirts label, Jenny should pay 
Example Question #81 : Percentage
A car dealer purchased a used truck, marked it up to make a 30% profit, then sold it at a 30% discount from the sticker price.
Quantity A: The amount that the dealer paid for the truck
Quantity B: The amount for which the dealer sold the truck
The relationship cannot be determined from the information given
Quantity B is greater
Quantity A is greater
The two quantities are equal
Quantity A is greater
Since no price is given, you can pick $100 as the starting point for the value of the truck. $100 marked up 30% is $130, and the 30% discount brings it to $91.
Example Question #82 : Percentage
A retail chain wishes to make at least a 
None of the answers are correct.
Let's begin by finding the absolute amount necessary for a 27% profit. Following that, we will adjust for the needs of having a whole number price. If the sale price is S, we can set up the following equation:
(S – 23)/23 = 0.27
S – 23 = 6.21
S = 29.21
The product must, however, be sold for at least $30 because it has to be an integer value.
Example Question #83 : Percentage
A car dealer sold two trucks for 
Quantity A: The dealer's net gain
Quantity B: The dealer's net loss
Quantity A is greater.
The two quantities are equal.
The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
Quantity B is greater.
Quantity B is greater.
For the profitable truck, the dealer bought it for 
For the unprofitable truck, the dealer bought it for 
Thus, the dealer's net profit is $8,000, and the dealer's net loss is $10,000.
His loss is greater than his profit, so Quantity B is larger.
Example Question #84 : Percentage
The price of a laptop is reduced by 
Cannot be determined
To solve this problem, imagine that the original price of the laptop is $100. After the first 20% discount, the price of the laptop becomes $80. With the additional 10% reduction, we discount from $80, not $100. 10% of 80 is 8 so we must deduct $8 from $80. This gives $72 as the final price of the laptop after both reductions. Since we started at $100, the total discount is 28%.
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