HP 12C Instruction Manual page 2

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HP 12C Cost, Price, and Markup Calculations
Cost, price and markup concepts
Items that are bought and sold have a cost to the seller and a price to the buyer. The difference between the cost and
the price is the gross amount the seller makes on the sale. There are two ways of computing the percentage this
difference represents. The term markup uses the cost as the basis for the percentage calculation while margin looks at
the price as the basis. The diagram in Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between cost and price.
The cost is the price minus a percent of the price called margin. The price can also be viewed as the cost plus a
percentage of the cost called markup. The following expressions relate margin, price and cost with each other.
−

PRC CST
=

MU (%)
 CST
How to calculate cost, price and markup on the HP12C
The table below summarizes the keystroke sequence for each of the calculations above.
Practice with solving interest rate conversion problems
Example 1: A television is sold for $300. Given that it costs $195, what is the markup?
Solution: The keystroke sequence to calculate the markup in this case is:
195 \ 300 à
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% +
cost

PRC
×

100

Unknown
markup key in cost, \, key in price, à
price
key in cost, \, key in markup, b+
cost key in price, \, 1, \, key in markup, b+z
mark-up
merchandise
% -
margin
×

MU (%) CST
= +
CST 
 100
Keystroke
- 2 -
price
Figure 1

 =
CST

+
1
Figure 2
Figure 3
HP 12C Cost, Price, and Markup Calculations - Version 1.0
PRC
 
MU (%)
 
100
 