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Maths Teaser - Doing my head in - HELP



chucky1973

New member
Nov 3, 2010
8,829
Crawley
Can you answer this, doing my head in.

You see a top for £97, but dont have the money, so you borrow £50 from your mum and £50 from your dad. = £100
You buy the top and get £3 change, you then decide to give your mum back £1 and your dad back £1 and you keep the other pound for yourself.
You now owe your mum £49 and your dad £49.
But...£49 + £49 = £98, you have £1 = £99
Where is the other £1
 


strings

Moving further North...
Feb 19, 2006
9,965
Barnsley
You owe your Mum and Dad 50p each, surely??

[edit] Oh bugger, thats wrong...
 










Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,575
Back in Sussex
No, you have a top worth £97 and £1 in cash. Your Mum and Dad each have £1. £97 + £1 + £1 + £1 = £100.

If you took the top back - buyer's remorse and all that - you'd then have £98 in cash, which you could use to repay your parents the £49 you owe each of them.
 








Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
24,721
Worthing
Is the answer Philidelphia ?
 


The Optimist

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Apr 6, 2008
2,579
Lewisham
Have ................... Owe
£100 ................... £100
£97 jumper + £3 .... £100
£97 jumper + £1 .... £98

Everything is balanced. There is no missing £1. The trick is in the phrasing, there is no reason why it should all add up to £100 at the end.
 


soistes

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
2,643
Brighton
Don't really see the problem. You still owe them £98, which is made up of the £97 you paid the shop for the top, and the £1 you "kept" for yourself.

A more interesting question is why on earth you'd spend as much as £97 on a top
 








Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
49,988
Goldstone
Everything is balanced. There is no missing £1. The trick is in the phrasing
The trick is always in the phrasing / misleading nonsense. In this case it's:

But...£49 + £49 = £98, you have £1 = £99
There is no need to add your debt to you parents (£49 + £49) to the cash you have (£1). Adding one of your assets to your liabilities to make the whole thing confusing.
 






Muzzy

Well-known member
Jan 25, 2011
4,786
Lewes
If you pay £97 for your tops, I wouldn't worry about £1 if I were you.;)
 


Manx Shearwater

New member
Jun 28, 2011
1,206
Brighton
This deffo wasn't from Primark then?
 


seagullsovergrimsby

#cpfctinpotclub
Aug 21, 2005
43,690
Crap Town
Why are you paying £1 each to your parents ? 50p each is quite enough before telling them you cannot afford to pay back the remainder. :lol:
 




Wilko

LUZZING chairs about
Sep 19, 2003
9,921
BN1
Have ................... Owe
£100 ................... £100
£97 jumper + £3 .... £100
£97 jumper + £1 .... £98

Everything is balanced. There is no missing £1. The trick is in the phrasing, there is no reason why it should all add up to £100 at the end.

You should be a maths teacher ;)
 


Mew

New member
Aug 16, 2011
86
I'm tired today, please explain:

- this is a many layered joke that I just don't get
- the OP genuinely believes 97 / 2 is a maths teaser
- the OP works for George Osborne
 



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