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[CSAT][CAT] Basic Numeracy – Percentages – Multiplying Factor (Tips &Tricks) – 4

by Wonder Boy · Published December 16, 2014 · Updated December 16, 2014

Regaining back from our last post : [CSAT][CAT] Basic Numeracy – Percentages – Base (Tips &Tricks) – 3, now lets learn the concept of Multiplying Factor and how relevant it is in calculations of CAT & UPSC CSAT Prelims questions.

Multiplying Factor :

MF (Multiplying Factor) corresponding to x% increase is 1 + (x/100) and x% decrease is 1 – (x/100).

Lets take example similar to example from our last article ( [CSAT][CAT] Basic Numeracy – Percentages – Base (Tips &Tricks) – 3)

If a number for e.g. 200 is increased by 30% what will be the final number ?
Final Number = 200 + 30% of 200
= 200 + (30/100)x200
= 200 + 60
= 260.

Lets look through the same steps in the following way:

Final Number = 200 + 30% of 200
= 200(1 + 30%)
= 200 (1 + 0.3)
= 200 x 1.3
= 260

so here 1.3 is the multiplying Factor corresponding to 30%.

Ques. What is MF corresponding to 20% increase ?

Ans. 1.2

Ques. What is the MF corresponding to 3% decrease?

Ans. 0.97

Lets move towards another perspective of MF.

We have to deal with various numbers in data interpretation questions, where we need faster calculation.

Now if we encounter something like ratio of 68 to 51

i.e. 68/51 = 1.3333

so we can easily say that 68 is 33.33% more than 51.

Use of multiplying Factor simplifies the calculation and is very helpful for speedy calculation in CAT as well as UPSC CSAT Paper 2.

Percent of a percent

It is a very simple concept. We take percentage of another percent.

Lets take an example :

What is 10% of 20%?
(10/100) x (20/100) = 0.1 x 0.2 = 0.02.

Lets take another example :

What is 10% of 20% of 40% ?
(10/100) x (20/100) x 40% = 0.02 x 40% = 0.8%

So what is the BASE in this case ???????? You can reply in comments.

Articles for Topic Percentage :

1. Basic

2. Concept of percent

3. Concept of Base

4. Multiplying Factor

Comments awaited below in comment section:

Books to be referred for questions and concept : CSAT

Books to be referred questions and concept : CAT/MBA

In the next article I will be coming up with the details of other subtopics and questions related to the sub topics. I will be keeping it at tortoise’s pace as I discussed in my article How CSAT – UPSC Prelims paper – 2 can help you in your sweet journey !!! and you will find that by devoting less than an hour, how you could reach your target of 160+ score.

Friends, You can post problems or questions related to this topic at Forum – Prelims Paper -2 . Lets discuss as much questions as possible in forum.

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Umer Farook says:

October 1, 2015 at 3:01 pm

Really great article, sir.

Reply
ajay singh says:

December 16, 2014 at 9:12 pm

nice article…

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sumit says:

December 16, 2014 at 9:03 pm

great going sir… nice article

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sarwar says:

December 16, 2014 at 12:39 pm

Great going nice articles sir….

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gaurav says:

December 16, 2014 at 12:38 pm

How does multiplying factor help in calculations ??

Reply
suresh sharma says:

December 16, 2014 at 12:33 pm

Wow nice article…. Please write an article on mixtures…

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