By selling 8 pens for Rs 75, a shopkeeper loses 25%. How many pens should be sold for Rs 372 to earn a 24% profit?

24

The correct answer is Option (3) → 24

Let the cost price (CP) per pen be x.

Step 1: Find CP per pen

Selling 8 pens for ₹75 results in a 25% loss.

So,

$\text{SP} = 75\% \text{ of CP}$

$75 = 0.75 \times \text{CP of 8 pens}$

$\text{CP of 8 pens} = \frac{75}{0.75} = 100$

$\text{CP per pen} = \frac{100}{8} = 12.5$

Step 2: Find SP per pen at 24% profit

$\text{SP per pen} = 12.5 \times 1.24 = 15.5$

Step 3: Number of pens for ₹372

$\text{Number of pens} = \frac{372}{15.5} = 24$