In the year 2001, out of total number of vehicles, the number of passenger…

Concept

A percentage share compares a part with the whole it belongs to: share (%) = (part ÷ whole) × 100. With tabulated data the arithmetic is the easy half — the deciding step is settling exactly which columns make up the 'part' the question names, and then reading the 'whole' from the same row.

Applying it to the 2001 row

1. Read the whole first: the 2001 row records 549.91 lakh registered vehicles in all.

2. Decide which columns form the part. The six vehicle columns are exhaustive — 385.56 + 70.58 + 6.34 + 29.48 + 57.95 = 549.91 lakh — so 'passenger vehicles (4 wheelers)' has to be assembled out of them. Two wheelers fail the wheel count, goods vehicles carry freight rather than passengers, and 'Others' is the residual bucket of three-wheelers, tractors and similar categories.

3. That leaves Cars, Jeeps, Taxis (70.58 lakh) and Buses (6.34 lakh). Buses are the arguable entry: they do carry passengers, but a bus is not literally a four-wheeler, so compute the share both ways rather than assuming a grouping.

4. Taking the two columns together: 70.58 + 6.34 = 76.92 lakh, and (76.92 ÷ 549.91) × 100 = 13.99%.

5. Taking cars, jeeps and taxis alone: 70.58 lakh, and (70.58 ÷ 549.91) × 100 = 12.83%.

6. Both readings land on the same offered share: 13.99% is almost exactly 14%, and 12.83% is nearer to 14% than to any other percentage listed. So the share is about 14%.

Cross-check

The near-exact fit shows which grouping the paper worked with: 14% of 549.91 lakh is 76.99 lakh, within 0.07 lakh of the 76.92 lakh that cars, jeeps, taxis and buses add up to, whereas the cars-only total of 70.58 lakh would have been quoted as about 13%. The larger shares would each demand far more passenger vehicles than the table records:

• 24% of 549.91 lakh is about 132 lakh vehicles.

• 31% is about 170 lakh, close to the 164.35 lakh left after removing two wheelers — but that remainder still has goods vehicles and 'Others' inside it, and neither of those carries passengers.

• 43% is about 236 lakh, more than three times the 76.92 lakh actually recorded.