There was this clothes shop once with a lady as its owner. She had a good range of clothes ranging from jackets to socks.One day a guy came in wanting a jacket. He found the one he was looking for, it was thirteen dollars.He took it up to the counter and handed the lady a twenty dollar note. She looked in the till for change, but finding that she didn't have enough she said, "Sorry about this, I don't have enough change, I'll just pop over to the chemist to get some". She then went to the chemist, and soon returned with some notes and coins. She handed the man the jacket in a bag and seven dollars change.A couple of hours later the chemist came into the shop, and told her that, he "had looked at the note and found that it was counterfeit". She had a quick look at it too, and then handed him another twenty dollar note, then he left the shop.The question is how much money did she lose in the end?
Dont rush. It's hard, otherwise I wouldn't have posted it.
Please post your answers.
9 comments:
has this been adjusted for inflation?
No, this was written before inflation was thought of.
Whats the point in posting the story if I tell you the answer?
Don't worry it took me a while, and it took john even longer until I told him.
And you're posting at 3:49 am?
Si, change your hit counter bro. Good stuff,,,
John boy is in my confidence... I think(!)
No, she lost quite a bit really.
I personally think she didn't lose his respect. But thats not as important as the main question.
And no, 23 dollars is not the answer.
But there is a big clue in it. Look for 'BIG', not the word but something.
When I first tried it I got about 7 different wrong anwers. Keep trying.
p.s. no, it isn't 33, 40, 7, 14, 27, 47, 6, but it is fairly close to the mean of these numbers!!!
OK, so this is an ancient post, but isn't the answer pretty simple?
Assuming that the $20 note was actually forged, then the following transactions occurred :
Transaction #1 :
Man -> lady : fake note
Lady -> man : jacket 'worth' $13
Transaction #2 :
Lady -> chemist : fake note
Chemist -> lady : $20 of change
Transaction #3 :
Lady -> man : $7 change
Transaction #4 :
Lady -> chemist : $20 note
(and it appears the chemist kept the fake $20 note)
So ignoring the fake note, she was given $20 in change, then gave away $7 in change, then gave away a $20 note. She is out-of-pocket by $7 and one jacket.
I note you've said that the answer is _not_ $7, so I suppose you're including the value of the jacket in the amount she lost. Hence, your answer is $7 + $13 = $20. However, she is _not_ actually out-of-pocket by that $13, because the jacket was probably donated to the op-shop, and whoever might have bought that jacket had it not been fraudulently purchased, might buy another item of clothing anyway. So the value of the "stock on hand" in the op-shop has decreased, but it's debatable whether that $13 "loss" will ever affect the bank balance.
That's my tuppence-worth! :o)
P.S. Good to "meet" you! :o)
P.P.S. A mutual friend or acquaintance is getting married next year in New Zealand. I might pop in and say "hi" if you're amenable to such a thing. :o)
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