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2.2 Markup & Discount

2.2 Markup & Discount
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  • Math Help

    As is true of the terms "markup" and "markup percent," the terms "discount" and "discount percent" are technical terms that are used in business.

    Discount: Technically this term only applies to retail (or reselling) businesses. An item is discounted when its normal retail price is lowered. The discount is the difference between the "Regular Price" and the "Discounted Price." You can see the potential for abuse with this definition. It is common that a retailer artificially inflates the "Regular Price" for the sake of being able to claim a larger discount.

    Discount Percent: When using the term discount percent, be sure that the numerator is the discount and the denominator is the regular retail price.

  • Consumer Suggestion

    According to Earth911.com, the average American throws away 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per year. Use a search engine to search for "clothing donation centers in <your location>" to find a place in your community to drop off your old clothes.

  • Checkpoint Solution

    As is shown in Example 3, a spreadsheet works well to organize the problem.

     

    You paid for the shirts. Your total markup was

    The average markup percent for selling the 25 shirts is about 124%, even though the last 4 shirts were sold at a loss.

    Note About Round-Off Error: In the spreadsheet, note that some of the amounts shown in column F are not the product of columns D and E. This result is due to round-off error. You can avoid this type of error by using a "greatest integer function (INT)" when listing the prices in column D, as shown in the following spreadsheet.

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    system user
    John Bennett   8 years ago |
    You can also use the round(x,2) function to round the prices to the nearest cent, rather than always rounding down as the greatest integer function does.
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