A trader sells an article at 20 percent profit. If he buys it at half of the cost price and sells at the same selling price as before, then what will be the profit percentage?

Given:

The trader sells an article at a 20% profit.

The trader buys the article at half of the cost price.

The selling price remains the same.

Concept used:

To find the profit percentage, we need to compare the profit with the cost price or the selling price.Let's assume the cost price of the article is C.

Calculation:

The trader sells the article at a 20% profit, which means the selling price is 120% of the cost price (C).

Selling price = Cost price + Profit

Selling price = C + 20% of C

Selling price = C + 0.2C

Selling price = 1.2C

Now, the trader buys the article at half of the cost price, which means the buying price is 50% of the cost price (C).

Buying price = 0.5C

To calculate the profit, we subtract the buying price from the selling price:

Profit = Selling price - Buying price

Profit = 1.2C - 0.5C

Profit = 0.7C

To calculate the profit percentage, we divide the profit by the buying price and multiply by 100:

Profit percentage = (Profit / Buying price) ×  100

Profit percentage = (0.7C / 0.5C) ×  100

Profit percentage = 1.4 ×  100

Profit percentage = 140%

Therefore, when the trader buys the article at half of the cost price and sells it at the same selling price, the profit percentage is 140%.

∴ Option 3 is the correct answer.