2 tricky tasks about money that disappears and appears

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

These puzzles are as old as the world, but still cause controversy and bewilderment.

Missing money problem

Three grandchildren decided to buy a new TV set for their beloved grandmother for 54,000 rubles. The amount was divided equally: everyone chipped in 18,000. After paying for the purchase at the exit from the store, they met their good friend, who just worked there as a manager.

Upon learning that the comrades had purchased the TV at full price, he suggested: “Let me give you a discount! Now I will go and warn the cashier, he will return the extra money back."

The manager asked the cashier to give the customers 18,000 rubles. But he turned out to be not very honest, so he decided to return only 12,000 rubles, and shamelessly embezzle 6,000. It turns out that each grandson received 4,000 rubles back and paid 14,000 rubles for the TV set.

It turns out that the three grandchildren paid 42,000 rubles for the purchase, and the cheating cashier had 6,000 rubles left. In total, this is 48,000 rubles. Attention: question. Where else is 6,000 rubles?

The point is that a mistake was made in the formulation of the problem. You cannot add to the money spent by the grandchildren those that the cashier stole, because they are already included in this amount.

Let's figure out what actually happened to the money. First, the grandchildren paid 54,000 rubles for the TV set. Then the manager made a discount of 18,000. This means that the store earned: 54,000 - 18,000 = 36,000 rubles. The cashier was supposed to pay 18,000, but this did not happen. He took 6,000 rubles for himself, and returned only 12,000.

It turns out that the store earned 36,000 rubles, the cashier took 6,000 rubles, and the friends paid 42,000: 36,000 + 6,000 = 42,000. No more 6,000, except for those stolen by the cashier, did not disappear.

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Extra money problem

Vasya lent Kolya 1,000 rubles, but he lost them. Then Kolya borrowed 500 rubles from Misha, bought cherries for 300 rubles for them, returned 100 rubles to Vasya, and another 100 to Misha. It turns out that Kolya spent 300 rubles and owes Misha and Vasya 1,300 rubles. In total, this is 1,600 rubles. Where did the extra hundred come from?

As we already know, there is an error in the problem statement. You can not add the money spent to the debt, because they are already included in it. Kolya owes 1,300 rubles. I lost 1,000 of them, spent 300, and already gave 200 back. 1,000 + 300 + 200 = 1,500 rubles. There are no extra hundreds.

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