CAT Quantitative: Profit & Loss Analysis

Solve complex profit and loss problems commonly asked in CAT quantitative section.

# Aplly.xyz Case Study Submission

## Title
CAT Quantitative: Profit & Loss Analysis

## Type
CAT / Competitive Aptitude

## Difficulty
Intermediate

## Estimated Time
60 minutes

## Overview
Solve complex profit and loss problems commonly asked in CAT quantitative section.

## Case Details

Function Focus: CAT / Competitive Aptitude — manual reasoning, decomposition, and critical judgment (no spreadsheet or AI tool permitted in Phase 1)

Scenario:
You are the analyst at a fictional consultancy ("Praxis Advisors") tasked with answering: CAT Quantitative: Profit & Loss Analysis. You have a clean, synthetic dataset described below. You must produce a defensible answer using structured reasoning — no tool-assisted shortcut on the first pass.

Dataset Structure:
- company
- revenue_cr
- cogs_pct
- operating_expense_pct
- tax_rate_pct
- shares_cr
- market_price
- dividend_pct
- debt_cr
- interest_pct

Tasks:
1. Solve the first question by hand using the standard formula; write every intermediate step.
2. For the second question, attempt a logical elimination approach before any calculation shortcut.
3. Use approximation/estimation to sanity-check your answer; state your rounding assumptions.
4. Identify the most time-efficient solving order for the set and justify it.
5. Verify your answers with a calculator or spreadsheet and mark any error you made in the manual pass.

Expected Output:
A solved answer sheet with all steps shown, final answers, time taken, and a short self-review note.

Evaluation Criteria:
Accuracy and completeness of steps, correct formula application, efficient solving order, honesty in self-review.

## Data Sources

| company | revenue_cr | cogs_pct | operating_expense_pct | tax_rate_pct | shares_cr | market_price | dividend_pct | debt_cr | interest_pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Corp | 1250 | 58 | 22 | 25 | 50 | 340 | 1.8 | 400 | 9.5 |
| Beta Industries | 890 | 62 | 18 | 25 | 35 | 215 | 2.2 | 280 | 8.7 |
| Gamma Pharma | 2100 | 45 | 30 | 20 | 80 | 520 | 0.9 | 650 | 7.2 |
| Delta Motors | 3400 | 72 | 15 | 22 | 120 | 185 | 3.1 | 1200 | 10.8 |
| Epsilon Tech | 780 | 35 | 40 | 18 | 60 | 890 | 0 | 150 | 6.5 |
| Zeta Retail | 4500 | 68 | 20 | 25 | 200 | 95 | 2.5 | 1800 | 11.2 |
| Eta Construction | 1600 | 55 | 25 | 22 | 40 | 420 | 1.5 | 900 | 9 |
| Theta Energy | 5200 | 48 | 28 | 30 | 150 | 310 | 4.2 | 2500 | 8 |
| Iota FMCG | 2800 | 52 | 24 | 25 | 90 | 275 | 3.8 | 700 | 9.2 |
| Kappa Mining | 1900 | 60 | 20 | 28 | 55 | 195 | 2 | 1100 | 10.5 |


Full dataset: https://github.com/arora200/aplly_case_db/datasets/042-cat-quantitative-profit-loss (synthetic, 10 records)

## Solution Frameworks
Formula-based quantitative solving, structured logical elimination, approximation & estimation, time-management heuristics

## Solver Guidance & Tutorials
_Solver guidance added by the pipeline (tutorial links) — see `solver_guidance` field._

## What You'll Learn
- Solve quantitative problems step-by-step by hand
- Choose the fastest solving order
- Self-check answers with estimation

## Tags
CAT, Quantitative, Profit Loss

## Registration Links
Register as Solver / Register as Evaluator