Maths Teaser - Doing my head in - HELP

chucky1973

New member

Nov 3, 2010

8,829

Crawley

• Apr 4, 2013

• #1

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

• Apr 4, 2013

• #2

You owe your Mum and Dad 50p each, surely??

[edit] Oh bugger, thats wrong...

 

chucky1973

New member

Nov 3, 2010

8,829

Crawley

• Apr 4, 2013

• Thread starter
• #3

strings said:

You owe your Mum and Dad 50p each, surely??

Click to expand...

read it again, where is that £1?

 

Triggaaar

Well-known member

Oct 24, 2005

50,151

Goldstone

• Apr 4, 2013

• #4

chucky1973 said:

But...£49 + £49 = £98, you have £1 = £99

Click to expand...

That's your mistake. £49 + £49 = £98, which is your debt. You have a £97 top + £1 = £98.

 

strings

Moving further North...

Feb 19, 2006

9,965

Barnsley

• Apr 4, 2013

• #5

chucky1973 said:

read it again, where is that £1?

Click to expand...

Yep, read it again before I saw your post. I award myself one facepalm.

 

Bozza

You can change this

Helpful Moderator

Jul 4, 2003

55,703

Back in Sussex

• Apr 4, 2013

• #6

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.

 

CorgiRegisteredFriend

Well-known member

May 29, 2011

8,316

Boring By Sea

• Apr 4, 2013

• #7

£97 is rather steep for a top.

 

E

essbee

New member

Jan 5, 2005

3,656

• Apr 4, 2013

• #8

was the top in the sale?

 

Questions

Habitual User

Oct 18, 2006

24,857

Worthing

• Apr 4, 2013

• #9

Is the answer Philidelphia ?

 

T

The Optimist

Well-known member

NSC Patron

Apr 6, 2008

2,608

Lewisham

• Apr 4, 2013

• #10

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.

 

S

soistes

Well-known member

Sep 12, 2012

2,643

Brighton

• Apr 4, 2013

• #11

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

 

Fred Oliver - Legend

Well-known member

Jul 20, 2005

3,753

Valley Park

• Apr 4, 2013

• #12

You have the other pound, I just dont think you should be using it in the final calculation?

 

chucky1973

New member

Nov 3, 2010

8,829

Crawley

• Apr 4, 2013

• Thread starter
• #13

got it now. Thank you.

The power of NSC.

 

Triggaaar

Well-known member

Oct 24, 2005

50,151

Goldstone

• Apr 4, 2013

• #14

The Optimist said:

Everything is balanced. There is no missing £1. The trick is in the phrasing

Click to expand...

The trick is always in the phrasing / misleading nonsense. In this case it's:

chucky1973 said:

But...£49 + £49 = £98, you have £1 = £99

Click to expand...

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.

 

Codner pharmaceuticals

Well-known member

Jun 17, 2009

1,342

Border Country

• Apr 4, 2013

• #15

chucky1973 said:

got it now. Thank you.

The power of NSC.

Click to expand...

Did you get "Barnes #9" put on the back of it?

 

M

Muzzy

Well-known member

Jan 25, 2011

4,786

Lewes

• Apr 4, 2013

• #16

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

• Apr 4, 2013

• #17

This deffo wasn't from Primark then?

 

seagullsovergrimsby

#cpfctinpotclub

Aug 21, 2005

43,690

Crap Town

• Apr 4, 2013

• #18

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.

 

Wilko

LUZZING chairs about

Sep 19, 2003

9,922

BN1

• Apr 4, 2013

• #19

The Optimist said:

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.

Click to expand...

You should be a maths teacher

 

Mew

New member

Aug 16, 2011

86

• Apr 4, 2013

• #20

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