A shopkeeper employs a delivery boy and gives him a motorcycle for home delivery. For every delivery, the boy is given ₹ 5. At the end of the day, he also gets ₹ 2 for every kilometre of the distance covered in the day. The boy wants to earn more than ₹ 500 a day, but does not want to travel more than 100 km. Which of the following numbers of deliveries would definitely meet his target?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) The question cannot be answered due to insufficient data
Earnings are 5 × deliveries + 2 × kilometres. Even 90 deliveries give only ₹ 450, so the target depends on the distance travelled, which is not given. No option guarantees more than ₹ 500.
- Earning = 5d + 2k, where d = deliveries and k ≤ 100 km.
- d = 80, 85, 90 give ₹ 400, ₹ 425, ₹ 450 from deliveries alone.
- Whether he crosses ₹ 500 depends on k: 90 deliveries need more than 25 km; 80 need more than 50 km.
- The distance is not given, so none of the numbers definitely meets the target.
Remember · 'Definitely' means it must hold in every allowed case; test the worst case (here, the shortest distance).
Question and answer: UPSC's provisional GS Paper II (2026, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·