Profit is associated with the utility of an action or operation.
The first thing we are going to do is determine the etymological origin of the word profit . This action leads us to verify that this term is the sum of the Gothic word win , which can be translated as “covet,” and the suffix – cia , which is equivalent to “quality.”
Profit is the action and effect of winning (acquiring wealth or increasing it, obtaining a salary in a job , keeping what is disputed in a game , winning a place). The term usually refers to the utility that results from a deal or action.
For example: “In the last three years, the company achieved a profit of more than a million dollars” , “I work ten hours a day in exchange for a profit that barely allows me to make ends meet” , “Businessmen always stay with the profits, but the losses are distributed among the employees.”
The economic gain
The utility that the actor obtains from an economic, commercial or productive process is known as economic gain or economic benefit . It can be calculated as total income (earned from sales, interest on investments, etc.) minus total costs (production expenses, taxes) .
If a person invests two hundred pesos in bread, ham and cheese to make sandwiches and, after selling them, receives three hundred pesos, they will have obtained a profit of one hundred pesos. There are, of course, intangible values, such as the time spent making sandwiches.
The idea of profit is usually associated with economic benefit.
Calculation of profitability
It is common, in the economic field, that when the term profit is discussed, the word loss also quickly appears. Specifically, the most common thing is to talk about “profits and losses” at the same time, that is, the benefits and expenses that any company or business that is in operation has had.
It is precisely those that are usually recorded in a pertinent and appropriate document for this purpose, with the clear objective that at the end of the month, quarter or year, calculations can be made that determine, based on both, whether the company in question is profitable or not.
Other uses of the term profit
In everyday language, it is possible to refer to gaining time or other symbolic or abstract values. These types of gains are subjective according to personal assessment, unlike economic gains: “Buying a car meant a gain in time when going to work,” “Juan installed a sliding door and achieved a significant gain in space in your kitchen.”
Colloquially, the term profit is also used in another sense. Thus, for example, it is common to speak of “son of gain.” It is an expression that is used as a synonym for natural child, that is, as the offspring that a man and a woman have together.
In addition to all of the above, it must be emphasized that in the field of electronics, the term gain is also used. In its case, it is used to refer to the relationship that exists between the input signal and the output signal. This magnitude is usually measured in bels or decibels.