To think that this sum is super simple

[PeerieBreeks]

and can't understand how so many people on Facebook have it so completely wrong (and can justify it to themselves).

Without adding your reasoning, tell me what you think the answer is.

So each of my bricks is a tenner.
I give six bricks to someone, get a horse.
I get seven bricks back, they get the horse.
I give eight bricks back, I have the horse.
I get nine bricks, they have the horse.

So... That's a £30 pound profit? I started with 6 bricks and now have 9. Why is this so confusing to me!?!?

Giving up now.

I love these conundrums and feeling smug but I've felt smug in the past and been convinced I'm right, then noticed an extra grape in the bunch or something. My logic is normally spot on though.

"I ended up with £90 worth of 'things' at the end."

But the question was how much money, not the worth of his assets i.e. horse plus cash.

So what is the point in thinking he still owns the first hose and is buying a second horse,
Well, the horse may have got dirty being transported to his farm, so he uses the hose to wash it...

And for 10 extra marks, if the hose squirts water at a rate of 2 litres/s and the horse is dappled grey, and a bit fat, how long will it take the horse owners 9 year old to do a half adequate job of washing the horse? And how much extra pocket money does he get?

Lol alpine! Start again but with 10 bricks.

I made it $20 and then read all the answers and thought it was a trick!!

If he starts with 60 then he needs to borrow 10 to make second transaction. Therefore only 10 profit overall

If he started with 70 or more then it's 20 profit

We don't know for sure how much he started with... So must assume 60?

....or repay the brick that you borrowed to buy the horse the second time (if you only started with six bricks)

Liz

I ended up with 9 bricks (£90 worth of 'things'). I'm not valuing the horse because as far as I can see he doesn't end up with a horse.

@PeerieBreeks the part in the middle is a loss of he had to borrow 10 to make the 2nd transaction

We don't know how much money he started with though. I assumed he started with 60 not 200

It's absolutely $20. Genuinely don't understand how anyone can think differently?
@alpineibex You would have had to go to the brick bank for another brick inbetween the sales, so still only 2 bricks profit!

Assume you run a shop, during the year you sell sweets to customers and take a total of £160 from customers in exchange for sweets, however you have to buy the sweets from the wholesaler and over the year you paid £140 for the sweets. At the end of the year you have made £20 profit from selling sweets.

Now substitute the word sweets for horse.

Why am I starting with ten bricks? Where does ten come from?

I am a bit gobsmacked that anyone is struggling with this.

It appears to be the fact that he buys the same horse that leads to people getting this wrong.

Can people really not see that he's bought and sold things twice, so there are two profits/losses that need to be added together to get the answer, and that it's completely irrelevant to the overall calculation that the thing bought and sold was the same both times?

I give six bricks to someone, get a horse.
-6 (initial outlay)

I get seven bricks back, they get the horse.
+1

I give eight bricks back, I have the horse.
- 8

I get nine bricks, they have the horse.
+9

Initial outlay
6

Minuses/outgoings
-8

Positives/income
+10

Profit
=2

Start at zero
-60
+70 (10)
-80 (-70)
+90 (20)

The man has £60 in his pocket. He buys a horse for that amount and sells it on again for £70 making a profit of £10.

He then buys back the horse for £80, thus losing the profit so is down £10. He sells it on for £90 regaining the the loss.

He broke even.

Huggybear

Ah! I forgot about that middle bit during my "transactions", so yes. I stared with 6 bricks, ended up with nine bricks, take away a brick, 8 bricks, £20 profit.

I get it now. No more trading horses for me.

Firesuit

Yeah, I'm no good with money at all. I can't even work out what change I'm owed.

Alpine, start with 6 bricks. You'll run into problems when you have to pay 8 bricks and only have 7 in your hand. You will have to borrow a brick from someone, so at the end you have 9 bricks in your hand but you owe your friend a brick. Once you've given them their brick back you have 8 bricks. 2 more than you started with.

I worked it out like this:

Assume man starts with $60.
He buys a horse for $60 - now he has $0.
He then sells the horse for $70 - now he has +$10.
He then buys the horse back for $80 - now he has -$70 i.e. a loss of $70.
He then sells horse once more for $90, turning his $70 loss to +$20,
So at the end of it all he has $20 in his pocket, and no horse. So $20 profit.

Elendon if he starts off with 60 then spends 60 he has 0.
Sells for 70, he has 70.
Buys for 80, he's got - 10.
Sells for 90, pays off the - 10 and has 80 left.
So he's 20 up on his original 60.

The man has £60 in his pocket. He buys a horse for that amount and sells it on again for £70 making a profit of £10.

He then buys back the horse for £80, thus losing the profit so is down £10. He sells it on for £90 regaining the the loss.

He broke even.

Noooo! He “broke even” when he “lost the profit” by reinvesting. He makes $10, he spends $10. THEN he made $20 on the final transaction.

Floyd

Yep, I forgot that bit about needing to borrow a brick! (Sorry, I'm using Duplo)