A man bought 5 reams of duplicating paper, each of which are supposed to contain 480 sheets. The actual number of sheets in the packets were : 435, 420, 405, 415 and 440. (a) Calculate, correct to the nearest whole number, the percentage error for the packets of paper; (b) If the agreed price for a full ream was N35.00, find, correct to the nearest naira, the amount by which the buyer was cheated.
Explanation
(a) Sheets expected from 5 packets = \(480 \times 5 = 2400\) Actual sheet contained in the packets = \(435 + 420 + 405 + 415 + 440 = 2115\) Error in supply = 2400 - 2115 = 285 sheets. \(\therefore\) Percentage error = \(\frac{285}{2400} \times 100% = 11.875%\) \(\approxeq 12%\) (b) If 1 packet = 480 sheets cost N35.00 \(\therefore \text{2400 sheets cost } \frac{2400}{480} \times N35.00 = N175.00\) Amount of buyer was cheated = \(\frac{Error \times N175}{\text{Expected no of sheets}}\) \(\frac{N285 \times 175}{2400} = N20.78\) The buyer was cheated by N21 to the nearest naira.
