OT: Kids and no sense (UK)

[whiskychaser]

I have this theory that our education system isnt what it was. So I asked my partner's 14 year old this old chestnut:
3 farmers wanted to buy a computer. It cost £300 so they decided to buy one between them. So each put in £100 and they went to Comet, paid the cash and walked away with one. But the manager realised the item was in the January sales and sent the salesman after them with £50 discount. Now salesmen being salesmen (so offence) he put £20 in his pocket and gave them a tenner each. They were very happy farmers. So that means each farmer really paid £90. So 3 x £90 = £270 plus the £20 the salesman has in his pocket is £290. The question is, where is the other £10??

What do you mean, you dont know!!!

[nizmainiac]

i spent the tenner on penny sweets

[whiskychaser]

i spent the tenner on penny sweets

Arrow bars, black jacks and fruit salads?

[nizmainiac]

mojo's, my friend, mojo's

[Paul in NZ]

no....the actual price of the computer works out to be 300-20 the slesman pockets...280/3....

[Ferret]

I have this theory that our education system isnt what it was. So I asked my partner's 14 year old this old chestnut:
3 farmers wanted to buy a computer. It cost £300 so they decided to buy one between them. So each put in £100 and they went to Comet, paid the cash and walked away with one. But the manager realised the item was in the January sales and sent the salesman after them with £50 discount. Now salesmen being salesmen (so offence) he put £20 in his pocket and gave them a tenner each. They were very happy farmers. So that means each farmer really paid £90. So 3 x £90 = £270 plus the £20 the salesman has in his pocket is £290. The question is, where is the other £10??

What do you mean, you dont know!!!

Interesting reasoning, but when you take the 50 quid off 300, you get 250...

250/3=83 1/3 quid

+10 quid = 93 1/3

(93 1/3 * 3) + 20 (salesman) = 300

I cant get my head around the above reasoning and find the flaw in it though.

[CharlesAFerg]

The salesman still has an extra 10, as it's still part of the discount that he failed to share with the farmers.
I don't see how this is complicated...?

Oh, and it's "Salesman" that whole salesmen thing threw me off for a sec.

no....the actual price of the computer works out to be 300-20 the slesman pockets...280/3....

yep
Think 250, plus 10, 10, 10 - from the farmers' discount.

[whiskychaser]

The salesman still has an extra 10, as it's still part of the discount that he failed to share with the farmers.
I don't see how this is complicated...?

Oh, and it's "Salesman" that whole salesmen thing threw me off for a sec.



yep
Think 250, plus 10, 10, 10 - from the farmers' discount.

Sorry if it caused confusion but 'salesmen being salesmen, he...etc' is correct. The split of the £300 is:
£250 to Comet for computer
£30 back to farmers
£20 in salesman's pocket
The 3 x £90 + £20 = £290 is a red herring. As Frank Carson would say, 'its the way I tell 'em'. The 14 year old sulked cos he couldnt work it out. Then went on the net to find the answer. Which I think proves my initial point

[Traian]

There's only 2 ways you can think about this:

Either each farmer paid $90, $250 of which went to the business and $20 to the salesman ( 3 x 90 = 270 = 250 + 20 )

OR

Each farmer paid $100, 250 of which went to the business, 20 to the salesman and 30 back to themselves ( 3 x 100 = 250 + 20 + 30 )

You cannot mix the $90 payment of the farmers and the $30 refund into the same line because they're part of two different calculations.

[Ferret]

You cannot mix the $90 payment of the farmers and the $30 refund into the same line because they're part of two different calculations.

Ahh, well explained sir!

There's two different maths streams that are having numbers quoted from them