The question for the day is from the topic Percentages.
Question:
- In an election contested by two parties, Party D secured 12% of the total votes more than Party R. If party R got 132,000 votes, by how many votes did it lose the election?
(1) 300,000
(2) 168,000
(3) 36,000
(4) 24,000
Solution:
Let the percentage of the total votes secured by Party D be x%
Then the percentage of total votes secured by Party R = (x � 12)%
As there are only two parties contesting in the election, the sum total of the votes secured by the two parties should total up to 100%
i.e., x + x � 12 = 100
2x � 12 = 100
or 2x = 112 or x = 56%.
If Party D got 56% of the votes, then Party got (56 � 12) = 44% of the total votes.
44% of the total votes = 132,000
i.e., (44/100)*T = 132,000
�
T =
(132,000*100)/44
= 300,000 votes.
The margin by which Party R lost the election = 12% of the total votes
= 12% of 300,000 = 36,000
