CAT 2018 Question Paper | Quants Slot 1

CAT Questions

The very first question in the quants section of the CAT 2018 Question paper tests your ability on the concepts of Mixtures combined with Percentages. It is highly imperative to have a basic idea on these topics to solve such questions.Solving CAT previous year paper will get you better prepared for attempting and cracking these questions in the CAT exam.If you are looking for more questions, 2IIM's CAT Question Bank provides you with a wide range of CAT-level questions for free.

Question 1:A trader sells 10 litres of a mixture of paints A and B, where the amount of B in the mixture does not exceed that of A. The cost of paint A per litre is Rs. 8 more than that of paint B. If the trader sells the entire mixture for Rs. 264 and makes a profit of 10%, then the highest possible cost of paint B, in Rs. per litre, is

1. 20
2. 16
3. 22
4. 26

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Video Explanation

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Explanatory Answer

Method of solving this CAT Question from Mixtures & Alligations

Given, The amount of B in mixture ≤ Amount of A in mixture
Selling Price = Rs. 264 and Profit = 10 %
264 = 1.1 × CP
CP = \\frac{264}{1.1}) = Rs. 240 for 10 litres
CP per litre = Rs. 24
We also know that, CP per litre of A = CP per litre of B + 8 Let CP per litre of B = x So, CP per litre of A = x + 8

Given Amount of B ≤ Amount of A,
Maximum possible cost of B occurs when B = A
We need to choose values for A and B in such a way that the quantities remain same.But A should be 8 more than B
Therefore, A should have a CP per litre of Rs. 28 and B should have a CP per litre of Rs 20

B cannot be assigned any more than this as the amount of B would become more than A
Example: Let us assign B to be Rs. 21 and A to be Rs. 29 which would result in a ratio of 3:5 where B amounts more than A, which doesn’t satisfy the condition
Max possible cost of Paint B = Rs. 20 per litre

The question is "A trader sells 10 litres of a mixture of paints A and B, where the amount of B in the mixture does not exceed that of A. The cost of paint A per litre is Rs. 8 more than that of paint B. If the trader sells the entire mixture for Rs. 264 and makes a profit of 10%, then the highest possible cost of paint B, in Rs. per litre, is"

Hence, the answer is Rs.20 per litre

Choice A is the correct answer.