It is crucial to understand the relationship between discount and profit to solve pricing problems effectively. The profit refers to the financial gain made when an item is sold for more than its cost price. Discounts are reductions applied to encourage sales, presented as a percentage decrease in the selling price.
In the scenario provided, the seller achieves a profit of 20% on the cost price but also offers a 20% discount on the marked-up price. The complexity arises because discount and profit affect the final selling price differently. The profit calculation is based on the original cost, increasing the initial price, while the discount is applied to this new price, decreasing it afterward.
- Calculate profit: Increase original price by profit percentage.
- Apply discount: Reduce marked-up price by discount percentage.
These steps show how profit and discounts compound, sometimes leading to non-intuitive results, such as finding selling prices incompatible with provided options.