A person has two articles which he decided to sell. The selling price of the 1st article is equal to the cost price of the second article. The 1st article is sold at 40% profit whereas the second article is sold at 20% loss. What is his overall profit/loss percentage?

To find the overall profit or loss percentage, let's analyze the situation step by step.

### Given:
- Let the cost price of the first article be \( \text{CP}_1 = x \).
- Let the cost price of the second article be \( \text{CP}_2 = y \).
- The selling price of the first article \( \text{SP}_1 \) is given by:

\[
\text{SP}_1 = \text{CP}_1 + 40\% \text{of } \text{CP}_1 = x + 0.4x = 1.4x
\]

- The selling price of the second article \( \text{SP}_2 \) is given by:

\[
\text{SP}_2 = \text{CP}_2 - 20\% \text{of } \text{CP}_2 = y - 0.2y = 0.8y
\]

- It is given that the selling price of the first article is equal to the cost price of the second article, i.e., \( \text{SP}_1 = y \). Hence, \( y = 1.4x \).

### Calculation:
- The total cost price for both articles is:

\[
\text{Total CP} = x + y = x + 1.4x = 2.4x
\]

- The total selling price for both articles is:

\[
\text{Total SP} = \text{SP}_1 + \text{SP}_2 = 1.4x + 0.8y
\]

Substitute \( y = 1.4x \) into \( \text{SP}_2 \):

\[
\text{SP}_2 = 0.8y = 0.8(1.4x) = 1.12x
\]

So, the total selling price becomes:

\[
\text{Total SP} = 1.4x + 1.12x = 2.52x
\]

### Profit or Loss Percentage:
- The profit is calculated as the difference between the total selling price and the total cost price:

\[
\text{Profit} = \text{Total SP} - \text{Total CP} = 2.52x - 2.4x = 0.12x
\]

- The profit percentage is:

\[
\text{Profit Percentage} = \left(\frac{\text{Profit}}{\text{Total CP}}\right) \times 100 = \left(\frac{0.12x}{2.4x}\right) \times 100 = 5\%
\]

### Conclusion:
The overall profit percentage is **5%**.

Would you like more details or have any questions? Here are some related questions that could expand on this information:

1. How do you calculate the profit percentage if only the selling prices are given?
2. What happens to the overall profit/loss if the second article was sold at a higher percentage loss?
3. How would the calculations change if the profit and loss percentages were swapped between the two articles?
4. What if the cost price of the first article was higher than the second article, how would that affect the overall profit/loss?
5. How can you calculate the break-even point in such a scenario?

**Tip:** Always check if the relationship between selling price and cost price is clearly given; it simplifies the calculations greatly.

Learn how to calculate the overall profit or loss percentage when selling two articles with different profit and loss percentages. This problem covers profit and loss calculations, percentage formulas, and includes a step-by-step solution example. Suitable for high school students.

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