The missing quid.
May. 31st, 2004 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobrique3 men go into a shop, to buy a bargain hi-fi that one of them has spotted in the window.
It's listed at £30.
So they each pull out a £10 note, and give that to the shopkeeper, and walk off, well pleased with their purchase.
A few moments later, the shopkeeper realises that he's made a mistake, and that the hi-fi is actually £25. So being an honest sort, he decides that he needs to give them a refund.
So he shouts to his assistant, and gives him £5 out of the till, and tells him to chase after those 3 guys, and give them the money.
His assistant dashes down the road, and being a bit of a crafty sort, gives each of the men one pound each, and pockets two for himself.
Now if each of the three men paid £9, and the assistant makes £2, what happened to the other quid?
It's listed at £30.
So they each pull out a £10 note, and give that to the shopkeeper, and walk off, well pleased with their purchase.
A few moments later, the shopkeeper realises that he's made a mistake, and that the hi-fi is actually £25. So being an honest sort, he decides that he needs to give them a refund.
So he shouts to his assistant, and gives him £5 out of the till, and tells him to chase after those 3 guys, and give them the money.
His assistant dashes down the road, and being a bit of a crafty sort, gives each of the men one pound each, and pockets two for himself.
Now if each of the three men paid £9, and the assistant makes £2, what happened to the other quid?
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-31 06:37 am (UTC)The answer is that there isn't a missing quid. The money comes to £27, which is the £25 for the hi-fi, plus the £2 the assistant has scamed them for.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-31 06:44 am (UTC)3x10-3x1-2=25
3x9-2=25
There was never any £2 added anywhere. Thus adding the £2 onto the 3x9 is not supposed to get to £30. The only requirement for truth is that taking it away yields £25.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-31 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-31 07:00 am (UTC)It yielded a few blank looks around our office first time around though.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-31 10:52 am (UTC)Steve Wright had this plague his show for over a year.. He'd read it out durign one of his "factoid" bits and it caused them to have hundreds of mails and phone ins about it cos people just couldn't "see" it.:)