Profit or Loss Calculator - Problem

Given the cost price and selling price of an item, determine whether there is a profit, loss, or break-even situation, and calculate the percentage.

Return a string in the format: "Profit: X.XX%", "Loss: X.XX%", or "Break-even"

Formula:

If selling price > cost price: Profit% = ((selling price - cost price) / cost price) × 100
If selling price < cost price: Loss% = ((cost price - selling price) / cost price) × 100
If selling price = cost price: Break-even

Input & Output

Example 1 — Profit Case

$ Input: costPrice = 100.00, sellingPrice = 120.00

› Output: "Profit: 20.00%"

💡 Note: Selling price (120) > cost price (100), so profit = (120-100)/100 × 100 = 20.00%

Example 2 — Loss Case

$ Input: costPrice = 150.00, sellingPrice = 120.00

› Output: "Loss: 20.00%"

💡 Note: Selling price (120) < cost price (150), so loss = (150-120)/150 × 100 = 20.00%

Example 3 — Break-even Case

$ Input: costPrice = 100.00, sellingPrice = 100.00

› Output: "Break-even"

💡 Note: Selling price equals cost price, so no profit or loss

Constraints

0 < costPrice ≤ 10⁶
0 < sellingPrice ≤ 10⁶
Prices are given as floating-point numbers
Percentage should be formatted to 2 decimal places

Visualization

Tap to expand

Asked in

a Amazon 25 G Google 20 M Microsoft 18 A Apple 15

The key insight is to use the difference between selling and cost price to determine both the type (profit/loss/break-even) and calculate the percentage. Best approach uses a unified mathematical formula. Time: O(1), Space: O(1)

Common Approaches

✓ Direct Comparison and Calculation

⏱️ Time: O(1) Space: O(1)

Compare cost price and selling price using conditional statements, then apply the appropriate percentage formula based on the result. Handle each case (profit, loss, break-even) separately with explicit calculations.

Mathematical Formula Approach

⏱️ Time: O(1) Space: O(1)

Calculate the difference between selling and cost price, then determine the type and percentage in a unified way. Use the sign of the difference to determine profit or loss, and apply a single percentage calculation.

Direct Comparison and Calculation — Algorithm Steps

Compare selling price with cost price
Apply appropriate percentage formula
Format result string

Visualization

Tap to expand

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Compare Prices

Check if selling price is greater, less, or equal to cost price

Calculate Percentage

Apply appropriate formula based on comparison result

Format Result

Return formatted string with percentage

Code -

solution.c — C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

void solution(double costPrice, double sellingPrice, char* result) {
    if (sellingPrice > costPrice) {
        double profitPercent = ((sellingPrice - costPrice) / costPrice) * 100;
        sprintf(result, "Profit: %.2f%%", profitPercent);
    } else if (sellingPrice < costPrice) {
        double lossPercent = ((costPrice - sellingPrice) / costPrice) * 100;
        sprintf(result, "Loss: %.2f%%", lossPercent);
    } else {
        strcpy(result, "Break-even");
    }
}

int main() {
    double costPrice, sellingPrice;
    char result[100];
    
    scanf("%lf", &costPrice);
    scanf("%lf", &sellingPrice);
    
    solution(costPrice, sellingPrice, result);
    printf("%s\n", result);
    
    return 0;
}

Time & Space Complexity

Time Complexity

⏱️

O(1)

Constant time operations: one comparison and one arithmetic calculation

✓ Linear Growth

Space Complexity

O(1)

Only uses a few variables to store prices and result

✓ Linear Space

12.5K Views

Medium Frequency

~8 min Avg. Time

450 Likes

Ln 1, Col 1

Smart Actions

💡 Explanation

AI Ready

💡 Suggestion Tab to accept Esc to dismiss

// Output will appear here after running code

Code Editor Closed

Click the red button to reopen

Profit or Loss Calculator - Problem

Input & Output

Constraints

Visualization

Related Problems

Common Approaches

Direct Comparison and Calculation — Algorithm Steps

Visualization

Code -

Time & Space Complexity

Select Compiler