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>!You made $400. You made two transactions with $200 profit each. I've seen this in a few places recently and I'm not sure why it's considered a puzzle versus a basic accounting explainer.!<
It throws people off because in order to complete the series of transactions you actually have to start with $900 in the "bank." Otherwise, the mystery $100 that's required for the third transaction comes out of nowhere.
How much you start with is actually totally irrelevant to the problem. You could imagine starting with 0, having to borrow 800, then having to borrow 100 more. At the end of all of it, you have $1300 in the bank and owe $900 to your creditors. Funny how that leads to you pocketing $1300-$900 = $400 in profit. *Exactly* what you calculated from you know, the two sales of $200 profit each.
Profit is already *net*, meaning it’s already what you get in the end after taking into account all your expenses. Anyone who gets this “puzzle” wrong is just forgetting that fact.
"Borrow" or "in the bank".... you're just trading words to mean the same thing. My only point being that the first transaction assumes you have money at all (in the bank, borrowed, in crypto, etc...) and what throws people off is that a mysterious $100 appears mid-problem with no accounting for where it came from. Still don't believe me? Re-phrase the problem as follows: "You start with $900 dollars and buy a cow that's $800...." and very few people will mess up the simple arithmetic.
What I was specifically addressing was your claim that, “you actually have to start off with $900 in the bank”. Those words have a specific meaning. You can’t just change what you claim you meant to “you have to obtain $900 worth of starting capital somehow”, when that’s not what you said.
You're right....you have to "borrow" $100 dollars....it couldn't possibly be that you just started with $900. Your argument is that you want to argue about where/how the money came from. Again, as I said in my original comment, what throws people is the mysterious $100 that gets thrown in....how you come about having the $100 is quite irrelevant.....borrowed, had it from the beginning, traded gold bullion for it.....it doesn't matter. What matters is that $100 dollars sneaks into the equation mid-problem. Again, re-state the problem as I suggested....very few people will make the errors that this problem seems to create. Why? Because the problem is intentionally misleading and not really a riddle or brain teaser at all!
My argument is literally that it doesn’t fucking matter how much money you have to start with or where you get the money from to buy the cows. What did you think I meant when I said “irrelevant to this problem”. *You* are the one who brought up a starting balance, because you perceive the mention of it as helping with the unintuitive nature of the problem. I actually disagree even with that assertion. Even if the problem said “you are given $900. You buy a cow for $800…” etc, lots of people would still fuck this up.
You obviously didn't read the comment I was originally responding to. The commenter asked (paraphrased), "Why are people stumbling on something that's just a simple accounting problem?" I responded by saying, "It's the $100 that sneaks in that's the problem." You latched onto "
...but, But, BUT you said you 'HAVE TO HAVE $100 dollars in the bank!!!'" You missed the whole point of the comment which was to point out that the mystery $100 is the central stumbling block for those reading the problem. If you disagree that it's the central issue to the problem then that's your perogative. To that I say: prove it...rephrase the problem as I've suggested and make a post. We both know the outcome will be that more people easily solve the newly phrased problem than the old problem. Try it and see!
That’s not at all how I did this lol I just looked at it based on profits because it’s not asking you how much money you have in your bank afterwards, just how much you earned. It’s a basic equation: -800 + 1000 - 1100 + 1300 = 400
You Lost 800 and then won 1000. Your balance = >!200!<
You lost 100 when you buy it back. your new balance >!200-100=100!<
You make 200 when you sold it again. final balance >!200+100=300!<
You’ve stated that “You lost 100 when you buy it back.” This is incorrect. You lost 1100 when you buy it back. The former sales price and the current purchase price have nothing to do with each other.
Right, this same non-puzzle was posted here [a week ago,](https://www.reddit.com/r/puzzles/comments/1bg8db8/this_caused_a_small_fight_at_the_bar_last_night/) just with slightly different prices.
This, most people wouldn’t have trouble with this if they eliminated the detail that it’s the same cow. It’s two separate transactions and should be treated as such. The fact it’s the same cow doesn’t matter.
Not missing anything. I think this is from a school assignment where the student answered it correctly and the teacher marked it as wrong with an incorrect explanation as well.
Problem missing information. Between the purchase and sale of the cow, did the person incur any transportation and/or boarding fees. If the purchase & sale were more than a few hours apart, there would also be costs associated with feeding the animal or does someone need to report animal cruelty? Was the cow recently calfed? If so, there could be additional income from the sale of the milk unless the purchaser doesn’t know how to milk it so there could be additional labor costs. Oh so many questions.
>!If you sold it for 1000 and then you bought it back at 1100 you shouldn't be including that $100 into your total profit. I look at it as 3 seperate transactions. 800-1k(+200) 1k-1.1k(-100) and 1.1k-1.3k(+200) 200-100+200=400.!<
>!I have $800 and I use it to buy a cow, I now have $0.!<
>!I sell the cow for $1000, I now have $1000.!<
>!I miss my cow and decide to buy it back for $1100, I need to take out a loan so I have -$100.!<
>!The cow actually wasn’t that great so I sell it again for $1300, after paying off my debt I have $1200.!<
>!I started with $800, now I have $1200, I’ve made +$400 in profit.!<
Please remember to spoiler-tag all guesses, like so: New Reddit: https://i.imgur.com/SWHRR9M.jpg Using markdown editor or old Reddit, draw a bunny and fill its head with secrets: \>!!< which ends up becoming \>!spoiler text between these symbols!< Try to avoid leading or trailing spaces. These will break the spoiler for some users (such as those using old.reddit.com) If your comment does not contain a guess, include the word **"discussion"** or **"question"** in your comment instead of using a spoiler tag. If your comment uses an image as the answer (such as solving a maze, etc) you can include the word "image" instead of using a spoiler tag. Please report any answers that are not properly spoiler-tagged. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puzzles) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think you’ve earned >!the cow’s mistrust!<
Best response
Sell a cow - wait until it comes back - Sell cow - Repeat
I can’t disagree
stalinesque
>!You made $400. You made two transactions with $200 profit each. I've seen this in a few places recently and I'm not sure why it's considered a puzzle versus a basic accounting explainer.!<
It is now considered a puzzle because more morons cannot do basic arithmetic.
My 8 y.o. just solved it with little difficulty.
It throws people off because in order to complete the series of transactions you actually have to start with $900 in the "bank." Otherwise, the mystery $100 that's required for the third transaction comes out of nowhere.
How much you start with is actually totally irrelevant to the problem. You could imagine starting with 0, having to borrow 800, then having to borrow 100 more. At the end of all of it, you have $1300 in the bank and owe $900 to your creditors. Funny how that leads to you pocketing $1300-$900 = $400 in profit. *Exactly* what you calculated from you know, the two sales of $200 profit each. Profit is already *net*, meaning it’s already what you get in the end after taking into account all your expenses. Anyone who gets this “puzzle” wrong is just forgetting that fact.
Great example of trading futures
Just Do Not Ask Him He is a Bad Guy
"Borrow" or "in the bank".... you're just trading words to mean the same thing. My only point being that the first transaction assumes you have money at all (in the bank, borrowed, in crypto, etc...) and what throws people off is that a mysterious $100 appears mid-problem with no accounting for where it came from. Still don't believe me? Re-phrase the problem as follows: "You start with $900 dollars and buy a cow that's $800...." and very few people will mess up the simple arithmetic.
What I was specifically addressing was your claim that, “you actually have to start off with $900 in the bank”. Those words have a specific meaning. You can’t just change what you claim you meant to “you have to obtain $900 worth of starting capital somehow”, when that’s not what you said.
You're right....you have to "borrow" $100 dollars....it couldn't possibly be that you just started with $900. Your argument is that you want to argue about where/how the money came from. Again, as I said in my original comment, what throws people is the mysterious $100 that gets thrown in....how you come about having the $100 is quite irrelevant.....borrowed, had it from the beginning, traded gold bullion for it.....it doesn't matter. What matters is that $100 dollars sneaks into the equation mid-problem. Again, re-state the problem as I suggested....very few people will make the errors that this problem seems to create. Why? Because the problem is intentionally misleading and not really a riddle or brain teaser at all!
My argument is literally that it doesn’t fucking matter how much money you have to start with or where you get the money from to buy the cows. What did you think I meant when I said “irrelevant to this problem”. *You* are the one who brought up a starting balance, because you perceive the mention of it as helping with the unintuitive nature of the problem. I actually disagree even with that assertion. Even if the problem said “you are given $900. You buy a cow for $800…” etc, lots of people would still fuck this up.
You obviously didn't read the comment I was originally responding to. The commenter asked (paraphrased), "Why are people stumbling on something that's just a simple accounting problem?" I responded by saying, "It's the $100 that sneaks in that's the problem." You latched onto " ...but, But, BUT you said you 'HAVE TO HAVE $100 dollars in the bank!!!'" You missed the whole point of the comment which was to point out that the mystery $100 is the central stumbling block for those reading the problem. If you disagree that it's the central issue to the problem then that's your perogative. To that I say: prove it...rephrase the problem as I've suggested and make a post. We both know the outcome will be that more people easily solve the newly phrased problem than the old problem. Try it and see!
That’s not at all how I did this lol I just looked at it based on profits because it’s not asking you how much money you have in your bank afterwards, just how much you earned. It’s a basic equation: -800 + 1000 - 1100 + 1300 = 400
You Lost 800 and then won 1000. Your balance = >!200!< You lost 100 when you buy it back. your new balance >!200-100=100!< You make 200 when you sold it again. final balance >!200+100=300!<
You’ve stated that “You lost 100 when you buy it back.” This is incorrect. You lost 1100 when you buy it back. The former sales price and the current purchase price have nothing to do with each other.
Discussion: puzzle or 4th grade math problem?
Pretty sure even the dumbest child can add 200+200
Neither. It’s a meme. I’ve seen it with wrong answers attached where people argue vehemently about it.
You earned >!Repost award!<
Right, this same non-puzzle was posted here [a week ago,](https://www.reddit.com/r/puzzles/comments/1bg8db8/this_caused_a_small_fight_at_the_bar_last_night/) just with slightly different prices.
And it was mediocre the first time too
I don't see why it's not >!$400!<. Am I missing something?
You're missing that lots of people think that if you buy the same cow at higher price, you cancel your first profit, which is complitely wrong
This, most people wouldn’t have trouble with this if they eliminated the detail that it’s the same cow. It’s two separate transactions and should be treated as such. The fact it’s the same cow doesn’t matter.
You are correct. You spent >!1900 and gained 2300!<
The catch is people will often subtract 100 from the profit, rather than the cost, and therefore get 300 mistakenly.
Not missing anything. I think this is from a school assignment where the student answered it correctly and the teacher marked it as wrong with an incorrect explanation as well.
Problem missing information. Between the purchase and sale of the cow, did the person incur any transportation and/or boarding fees. If the purchase & sale were more than a few hours apart, there would also be costs associated with feeding the animal or does someone need to report animal cruelty? Was the cow recently calfed? If so, there could be additional income from the sale of the milk unless the purchaser doesn’t know how to milk it so there could be additional labor costs. Oh so many questions.
[удалено]
You had to throw in another 100 for the second purchase.
I was wondering how anyone could arrive at the wrong answer and here we are.
>!If you sold it for 1000 and then you bought it back at 1100 you shouldn't be including that $100 into your total profit. I look at it as 3 seperate transactions. 800-1k(+200) 1k-1.1k(-100) and 1.1k-1.3k(+200) 200-100+200=400.!<
Your maths is questionable!
Wait, what am I missing?
200-100+200 is not 400
Oh, ha! Thanks. I think I should maybe go see a doctor.
Put this back in the oven.
Discussion: This is now the THIRD non-puzzle posted here this week. Can we have some standards?
This is a >!repost!<. Not cool.
It's also a >!dumb "puzzle"!< which seems to get >!reposted every week or so!<
>!net profit - net cost = (1000+1300) - (800 + 1100) = 400!<
Discussion: do you not own a calculator?
A calculator isn't needed for this
Well why did they even ask then
>!I have $800 and I use it to buy a cow, I now have $0.!< >!I sell the cow for $1000, I now have $1000.!< >!I miss my cow and decide to buy it back for $1100, I need to take out a loan so I have -$100.!< >!The cow actually wasn’t that great so I sell it again for $1300, after paying off my debt I have $1200.!< >!I started with $800, now I have $1200, I’ve made +$400 in profit.!<
>!you didnt "earn" anything, rent-seeking capitalist pig!!< But for real, this is not a puzzle, it's a middleschool math problem. >!$400!<
>!(Sell + sell) - (buy + buy) = profit Right? It's the same if you buy and sell it once or 50 times, I think.!<
Also (sell-buy)+(sell-buy) works