Shortcuts

When THREE people are running around a circular track:

Let the three people A, B and C with respective speeds of a, b and c (a > b > c) be running around a circular track
(of length L) starting at the same point at the same time. In this case we consider the three persons running in
the same direction as the general case.

 L L 
Time taken to meet for the first time ever LCM of  , 
  a  b   b  c  
L L L 
Time taken to meet for the first time at the starting point LCM of  , , 
a b c 

When TWO people are running around a circular track:

Let the two people A and B with respective speeds of a and b (a > b) be running around a circular track (of length
L) starting at the same point and at the same time, then

When the two persons are When the two persons are
running in the same direction running in the opposite direction
Time taken to meet for the L L
first time ever a  b  a  b
Time taken to meet for the first time L L  L L 
LCM of  ,  LCM of  , 
at the starting point a b a b
Please note that when we have to find out the time taken by the two persons to meet for the first time at the starting
point, what we have to do is to find out the time taken by each of them to complete one full round and then take
the LCM of these two timings (L/a and L/b are the timings taken by the two of them respectively to complete on full
round).

uv
Speed of the boat in still water =
2
uv
Speed of the water current =
2

In general, if a person travelling between two points reaches p hours late travelling at a speed of u kmph and

vu
reaches q hours early travelling at v kmph, the distance between the two points is given by p  q
vu
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If a body travels from point A to point B with a speed of p and back to point A (from point B) with a speed of q,

2pq
then the average speed of the body can be calculated as p  q . Please note that this does not depend on the

distance between A and B.

If a body covers part of the journey at speed p and the remaining part of the journey at speed q and the distances

 m  n  pq
of the two parts of the journey are in the ratio m : n, then the average speed for the entire journey is
mq  np

If compounding is done k times a year (i.e. once every 12/k months), at the rate of r% p.a., then in n years, the
kn
 r 
principal of P will amount to P  1  
 k  100 

The difference between the compound interest for k years and the compound interest for (k + 1) years is the
interest for one year on the amount at the end of kth year.
This can also be expressed in terms of the amount as follows:
The difference between the amount for k years and the amount for (k + 1) years under compound interest is the
interest for one year on the amount at the end of the kth year.

The difference between the compound interest for the kth year and the compound interest for the (k + 1)th year
is equal to the interest for one year on the compound interest for the kth year.

The difference between the compound interest and simple interest on a certain sum for two years is equal to the
interest calculated for one year on one year's simple interest.

If the number of times compounding is done in a year is increased to infinity, we say that the compound is
done every moment and then the amount is given by P.enr/100 where r is the rate% p.a. and n is the number
of years.

Underr Simple Interest Underr Compound Interest

Year Principle at Interest Interest till Amount at Principal at Interest Interest till Amount at
the beginning for the the end of the end of the beginning for the the end of the end of
of the year year the year the year of the year year the year the year
1 100 10 10 110 100 10 10 110
2 100 10 20 120 110 11 21 121
3 100 10 30 130 121 12.1 33.1 133.1
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Certain discount is given on an article whose setting price is S.P. If further discounts are given on this
discounted price, such discounts are referred to as successive discounts. If the successive discounts are p%,
q% and r%, on a product whose selling price is S.P., then the effective price after all the discounts is given by

 100  p  100  q   100  r 

Discounted price = S.P. ×
100  100  100

 Common profit or loss 2 p2

Loss percentage = 
100 100

When two articles are sold at the same price (i.e., theri S.P. is the same) such that there is a profit of p% on one
article and a loss of p% on the other (i.e., common profit or loss percentage), then, irrespective of what the SP
actually is, the net resuit of the transaction is loss. This percentage loss is given by

 100  p 
Given the cost price (CP) and profit percentage p%, the selling price will be given by SP = CP ×
100

 100  p 
Given the cost price (CP) and loss percentage p%, the selling price will be given by SP = CP ×
100

100
Given the selling price (SP) and profit percentage p%, the cost price will be given by CP = SP × 100  p
 

100
Given the selling price (SP) and loss percentage p%, the cost price will be given by CP = SP ×  100  p 

If the value of an item goes up/down by x%, the percentage reduction/increment to be now made to bring it

100 x
back to the original level is  100  x  %

100
If A is x% more/less than B, then B is % less/more than A.
 100  x 

If the price of an item goes up/down by x%, then the quantity consumed should be reduced/increased by

100x
% so that the total expenditure remains the same.
 100  x 
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On the basis of percentage increase, we can write down how many times the old value gives the new value. For
example, if the percentage increase is 100%, then we can conclude that the new value is 2 times the old value.
If the percentage increase is 300%, the new value is 4 times the old value. If the percentage increase is 450%,
then the new value is 5.5 times the old value. In general, if the percentage increase is p%, then new value is
 p 
 100  1  times the old value.
 

 2p!
The number of ways of dividing 2p items into two equal groups of p each is where the two groups have
 p ! 2
distinct identify.

 p  q !
The number of ways of dividing (p + q) items into two groups of p and q items respectively is
p!  q!

Number of ways of selecting one or more items from n given items is 2n – 1.

 2 p !
The number of ways of dividing 2p items into two equal groups of p each is 2 , where the two groups do
2!  p !
not have distinct identify.

Dividing (p + q + r) items into three groups consisting of p, q and r items respectively

The number of ways in which (p + q + r) thingscan be divided into three groups containing p, q and r things
 p  q  r !
respectively is
p! q ! r !

Dearer price Cheapter price

Average price

(Average price – Cheapter price) (Dearer price – Average price)

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