# Markup on selling price

#### roserrah

Selling Bananas:The produce manager at Tom Thumb Market know that 10% of the bananas purchased will become unsaleable and will have to be thrown out. If she buys 500 pounds of bananas for $.28 per pound and wants a markup of 45% on the selling price, find the selling price per pound of bananas. I keep coming up with the answer$.69 but the answer sheet says $.57. Can anyone help me with this problem? Thank you. Rosemary #### Subhotosh Khan ##### Super Moderator Staff member roserrah said: Selling Bananas:The produce manager at Tom Thumb Market know that 10% of the bananas purchased will become unsaleable and will have to be thrown out. If she buys 500 pounds of bananas for$.28 per pound and wants a markup of 45% on the selling price, find the selling price per pound of bananas.
I keep coming up with the answer $.69 but the answer sheet says$.57. Can anyone help me with this problem? Thank you.
Rosemary
Please show us some work indicating exactly where you are stuck - so that we would know where to begin to help you.

#### Denis

##### Senior Member
I guess I don't understand the problem.
purchase price = 500 * .28 = 140 ; so he's paying $140 for 450 (10% will waste) pounds of sellable bananas. He wants a 45% profit (yes?), so wants to sell these 450 pounds for 140 * 1.45 =$203

So the price per pound = 203 / 450 = .4511111.... or 45 cents.

What the Hades is "a markup of 45% on the selling price" :shock:

#### tkhunny

##### Moderator
Staff member
"markup" is difficult without very clear language. There are two distinct definitions. This one is the trickier of the two, being bounded on [0,1).

"a markup of 45% on the selling price" means the selling price has these two parts:
-------------- 45% profit (markup)
-------------- 55% wholesale and other costs

Buy a pound: $0.28 Discard 10%:$0.28/0.90 = $0.3111111111 This is 55% of the selling price: ($0.28/0.90)/0.55 = \$0.56666666

How's that for 57¢?

Notice how I didn't care how many pounds were purchased.