GRE Quantitative Reasoning · Question of the Day

GRE Quantitative Reasoning Question of the Day

A fresh daily question to build accuracy, reinforce recall, and turn practice into a steady habit.

Friday, November 6, 2026

A store increases the price of an item by $20\%$ and then decreases the new price by $20\%$ . The final price is what percent of the original price?

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Question of the Day

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A store increases the price of an item by $20\%$ and then decreases the new price by $20\%$ . The final price is what percent of the original price?

$96\%$ (correct answer)
$100\%$
$104\%$
$80\%$
$98\%$

Explanation: This question tests understanding of successive percent changes. When calculating successive percent changes, we must apply each change to the result of the previous change, not to the original value. Starting with an original price of 100, a 20% increase gives us 100 × 1.20 = 120. Then, a 20% decrease from 120 gives us 120 × 0.80 = 96. The final price of 96 is 96% of the original price of 100. A common error is to think that a 20% increase followed by a 20% decrease returns to the original price, but this ignores that the decrease is calculated on the larger intermediate value.