Percentage Q45

45.	Peter got 30% of the maximum marks in an examination and failed by 10 marks. However, Paul who took the same examination got 40% of the total marks and got 15 marks more than the passing marks. What were the passing marks in the examination?

	A.		35
	B.		250
	C.		75
	D.		85
		Answer - (D) Solution: Let x be the maximum marks in the examination. Therefore, Peter got 30% of x=(30100)*x=0.3x And Paul got 40% of x=(40100)*x=0.4x. In terms of the maximum marks Paul got 0.4x - 0.3x = 0.1x more than Peter. --------(1) The problem however, states that Paul got 15 marks more than the passing mark and Peter got 10 marks less than the passing mark. Therefore, Paul has got 15 + 10 = 25 marks more than Peter.-------- (2) Equating (1) and (2), we get 0.1x=25=>x=250.1=250 x is the maximum mark and is equal to 250 marks. We know that Peter got 30% of the maximum marks. Therefore, Peter got (30100)*250=75 marks. We also know that Peter got 10 marks less than the passing mark. Therefore, the passing mark will be 10 marks more than what Peter got = 75 + 10 = 85.