UPSC Prelims 2016 CSAT Paper II · Q33 of 79 Basic Numeracy easy

The monthly average salary paid to all the employees of a company was Rs. 5000. The monthly average salary paid to male and female employees was Rs. 5200 and Rs. 4200 respectively. Then the percentage of males employed in the company is :

  1. (a) 75%
  2. (b) 80% ✓ UPSC's answer
  3. (c) 85%
  4. (d) 90%

Why the answer is (b)

• Let the number of male employees be $M$ and female employees be $F$.

• The total salary for all employees is $5000(M + F)$.

• The total salary calculated by gender is $5200M + 4200F$.

• Equating the two expressions: $5000M + 5000F = 5200M + 4200F$.

• Simplifying gives $800F = 200M$, which means $M = 4F$.

• The percentage of males is $\frac{M}{M+F} \times 100 = \frac{4F}{5F} \times 100 = 80\%$.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) 75%
75% implies a ratio of 3:1, which would result in an average salary of Rs. 4950, not Rs. 5000.
(c) 85%
85% implies a ratio of 17:3, which would result in an average salary of Rs. 5085, not Rs. 5000.
(d) 90%
90% implies a ratio of 9:1, which would result in an average salary of Rs. 5100, not Rs. 5000.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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