Where is the missing $2 from the radio purchase?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a classic puzzle involving a perceived missing $2 from a radio purchase. Participants explore the financial transactions among three friends and their servant after buying a radio, questioning the logic behind the calculations presented in the problem. The scope includes conceptual reasoning and mathematical interpretation.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant outlines the scenario where the friends initially pay $60 for a radio priced at $50, leading to confusion about the distribution of the returned $10.
  • Another participant argues that the addition of $4 to $54 is misleading, emphasizing that the total investment is $54, which should not include the servant's $4.
  • Some participants suggest that the question may be misphrased, proposing that it should state a $60 radio instead of a $50 one to clarify the confusion.
  • One participant asserts that there is no missing money, explaining the distribution of funds logically, where $50 remains with the shopkeeper, $6 is returned to the friends, and $4 is kept by the servant.
  • Another participant humorously speculates about the servant's relationship with the friends, questioning why he would take $4 when they only received $2 each.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the interpretation of the problem, with no consensus reached regarding the correct understanding of the transactions or the nature of the missing $2.

Contextual Notes

Some participants highlight potential misinterpretations of the problem's wording, suggesting that the original question may have been unclear or incorrectly stated.

ADS
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1. 3 friends live happily in a home. They have a shared servant.
One day they all gone to a shop and buy a Radio pricing 50 buks
and returned happily. The next day their servant goes to market, meets
the shop-keeper. The shop-keepers knows that he is the servant of those 3 guys.
he gives him 10 Buks and says that actually by mistake he has taken 50 for
a radio pricing 40. So please return the money among your masters.
The servant reaches home and says his masters that because 10 bucks cann't
be devided equally so he gives 2 bucks to each of them (2*3 =6) and takes 4
bucks after asking them.

Now the question is they have invested 20-2 = 18 each..so total they invested
is 18 * 3 = 54 And 4 bucks is taken by servant so it makes 54 + 4 = 58.
Where is the (60-58) 2 bucks?
 
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54 - 4 = 50 ALSO 18*3 + 2*3 = 60. There is no sense in adding 54 and 4. It's what Bush would refer to as Fuzzy Math, and for once, he'd be right.[/color]
 
I assume the question is supposed to be that they paid 60 bucks for a radio which was supposed to be 50 bucks.

ADS said:
Where is the 2 bucks?
They paid it to their accountant.
 
chronon said:
I assume the question is supposed to be that they paid 60 bucks for a radio which was supposed to be 50 bucks.

They paid it to their accountant.
I guess your mind must be full of 6's, that's why you have 60's meanings in mind.

I think the guy in OP should be crazy, why does he have to pay back 10 bucks, why not take it as keepsake. Those people might love him. Think he would love them too later on.
About the servant, he must be those masters's dad! He could get 4 bucks whereas his masters each get only two ??
 
ADS said:
Now the question is they have invested 20-2 = 18 each..so total they invested
is 18 * 3 = 54 And 4 bucks is taken by servant so it makes 54 + 4 = 58.
Where is the (60-58) 2 bucks?
They invested 54 bucks. 50 ended up with the shopkeeper; 4 went to the servant. 54 + 4 is meaningless. (Assuming they originally paid 60 bucks for the radio.)
 
There is no missing money, the point of this "story" is to make you look at the problem incorrectly.

They paid $60 for the radio.

The shopkeeper returned $10, keeping $50

The servant gives $6 back to the roommates and keeps $4

$50+$6+$4=$60

When you look at the question logically, it's a no brainer.
 
ADS said:
One day they all gone to a shop and buy a Radio pricing 50 buks
and returned happily.
he gives him 10 Buks and says that actually by mistake he has taken 50 for
a radio pricing 40. Where is the (60-58) 2 bucks?

If they all chipped into buy a $50 radio, and it was actually $40, then the guy gave them back $10 each, how the hell do you get $60 then?
 
For F.A.T.:
Gokul43201 said:
54 - 4 = 50 ALSO 18*3 + 2*3 = 60.[/color]
 
No no no, the question says

A radio priced at $50

They paid, and got $10 back, because it was actually $40. Read my post in the quote before.

I think someone misstyped the question. I think it should be a $60 radio, but it only cost $50, otherwise, if it was a $50 radio, then why all chip in $20 each, when you can chip in $17 each, and get $1 change?
 

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