OK this one maybe easier to do when it is written down.


I one day decided to clean out my old cupboards of the old vinyl records, so I went down to the markets and had a bumper day and sold then all for $50.

On leaving the markets I saw a sign saying "Horses for sale", and since I always wanted to own a horse and I had the spare money I thought I'd take a look. On entering the yard I seen a cute little pony for sale on asking the price the salesman said "50 dollars". Well easy come easy go as they say and I was the proud owner of a new pony.

As I was leaving the yard a little lady came puttering along in her stationwagon, pulled up outside and got out of the car. On seeing me with the pony she approached. "Oh no, I just came to buy that pony for my daughters birthday, she was so looking forward to having it."
"Can I buy it off you?" she asked.
"60 dollars" was my reply.
She accepted and the exchange was made. As I walked out to my car I started to get upset that I gave in so easily and thought it time I started to assert myself a bit more. So I walked back to the lady and told her I made a mistake and could I have the horse back. She replied "70 dollars".
So I had my pony back. On arriving back at my car I just realised how much of an idiot I am, I have no where to put a pony let alone a way of getting it back home. Looking around I see a sign saying "Looking for Horses".
The person offered me 80 dollars for the pony and I accepted and went straight home.

How much profit did I make from the pony?

20 bucks! I must be missing something, seems too easy.

$20

Start even with no pony : 0
Buy pony for 50 : (0-50) 50 loss
Sell for 60 : (-50 + 60) 10 profit
Buy back for 70 :( 10-70) 60 loss
Sell again for 80 : (-60 + 80) 20 profit

Heh. Sounds like a recent Bazaar transaction. <img src=http://lag9.com/biggrin.gif>

Maybe I'm reading too fast again, but it sounds like $10. You bought it for $50, sold it for $60 (+$10 profit), bought it for $70 (there goes your $10, so $0 profit), and sold it for $80 (+$10 profit).

Hehe. Nice one. Heres my solution:

The two transactions are negating each other (+10/-10).

You still bought it for 50 and sold it for 80.

30$ profit is that to me.

Well, lets pretend I have 10 dollars in my pocket.

Sell the albumns: $60 (current cash on hand)
Buy the pony: $10
Sell to lady with kids: $70
Buy from the lady with kids: $0
Sell when I realize I've made a mistake: $80

Cost of Good Sold: Horse ($60) (final purchase price of the hors)
Additional Capital: ($10) (Money we started with)
Horse Sale: $80

Hmmm... now it looks like $10 profit to me.

I think Zyph has the right answer, you net $10 on the total deal, anythign you made in the middle is wiped by your repurchasing it.

Who cares! You have $80 more than you started the day with, and messing around with ponies has gotta be better than a regular job to get it lol

The correct answer is $20.

Buy horse: -50
Sell horse: +60
Buy horse: -70
Sell horse: +80
--------------------
Total +20

I think what is interesting is that each of the answers is can be correct, just depending on how one reads the question.

"How much profit did I make from the pony?"

a) [How much profit] did I make from the pony? $30
Total profit for the day, is $30 more than what you started with. Irrelevant how many transactions took place or for how much they netted or grossed, you are 30 ahead.

b) How much profit [did I make] from the pony? $10
The pony is irrelevant(at least the first 2 transactions), you had 70 dollars, where it came from makes no more difference than where the original 50 came from. You don't even care where the invested $10 comes from.

c) How much profit did I make [from the pony]? $20
The pony being bought and sold makes a difference, because it is in the question.

d) Am suprised no one said $80, with all the late night commercials on "Look at Al, he bought my seminar for 1000 bucks, and made $42,000 in one day."





I got an old one.

Doctor hands you a bottle with 3 pills.
Says "Take one at 11 am tomorrow"
"And 1 pill every half hour after that"

Q) How long do the pills last?

You take the last pill at 12Am, they last 1 hour.

I think there is a flaw in your reasoning.

You can only say the profit is $20 from the pony.

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>a) [How much profit] did I make from the pony? $30
Total profit for the day, is $30 more than what you started with. Irrelevant how many transactions took place or for how much they netted or grossed, you are 30 ahead.
[/quote] But you forget that in the transaction of you buying the horse for $70 you are actually using $10 out of your own pocket to fund the purchase. So although you could make $30 off the pony, when all money is counted you are left with $20.

If the question was how much money you made for the day the actual answer if $70 (becuase of the $10 you needed to use from your wallet.)

Profit is calculated after expenses though, so it can't be $30.00.

"they last 1 hour"

Ya, that's the traditional answer(or one of them).

But if you really stick with the traditional answer, shouldn't you ask when the doctor gave you the pills in the first place?

If you answered, "They last until 12 noon tomorrow", that would be correct(even using the traditional answer logic), right?

But that is not the same as "they last 1 hour".