Final answer:
To find out how much Robert paid for the horse, we need to calculate the selling price as a percentage of the original cost price. If he wanted to receive a gain of 20%, the selling price would be 1.2 times the original cost price.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find out how much Robert paid for the horse, we need to calculate the selling price as a percentage of the original cost price. We know that he sold the horse at a loss of 20%. Let's assume the original cost price was x.
Since he sold it at 80% of the original price, the selling price would be 0.8x.
We are given that the selling price is Rs. 17,500, so we can set up the equation:
0.8x = 17500
To solve for x, we divide both sides of the equation by 0.8:
x = 17500/0.8
x = 21875
Therefore, Robert paid Rs. 21,875 for the horse.
If Robert wanted to receive a gain of 20%, we can use a similar approach to calculate the selling price. Let's assume the original cost price is y.
Since he wants to sell it at 120% of the original price, the selling price would be 1.2y.
If we set up the equation 1.2y = P, where P is the selling price, we can solve for P:
P = 1.2y
Therefore, the selling price to achieve a gain of 20% would be 1.2 times the original cost price.