An electronics item dealer can earn a profit of 5%, even after allowing a 30% discount. He wanted to clear his old stock, so he offered a scheme of three successive discounts of 12%. What could be his minimum profit % approximately?Question 8Answera.2b.3c.1d.4

Let's solve this step by step:

1. First, let's understand the initial scenario. The dealer can earn a profit of 5% even after allowing a 30% discount. This means that the cost price of the item is 70% of the marked price (100% - 30% discount), and the dealer still makes a 5% profit.

2. Now, the dealer offers three successive discounts of 12%. The combined discount can be calculated using the formula for successive discounts: D = d1 + d2 - d1*d2/100, where D is the total discount, and d1 and d2 are the individual discounts.

3. Applying this formula twice, first for the first two 12% discounts, and then for the total 21.44% discount (from step 2) and the third 12% discount, we get a total discount of approximately 30.91%.

4. This means that the selling price after the three discounts is approximately 69.09% of the marked price.

5. Since the cost price is 70% of the marked price, and the selling price after the discounts is 69.09% of the marked price, the dealer would be selling the item at a loss of approximately 0.91% (70% - 69.09%).

6. However, the dealer initially had a profit margin of 5%. So, even after this loss, the dealer would still have a profit of approximately 4.09% (5% - 0.91%).

So, the minimum profit % approximately would be 4.09%. Therefore, the closest answer is d. 4.