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.

I know troll-hunting isn't allowed, but clearly anyone still saying anything other than 20 is just trolling now.

And I can say that with confidence, because clearly no-one is RTFT before they post, so no-one will notice a word I'm saying ...

dunno how to tag like that peeriebreeks...but...thankyou,this days about done. defo dont require a glass,lol. help me out...what is the - absolutely onbious answer??/

Oh God, this thread is infuriating.

The $0, $10 and $30 answers are bad enough, but the people that made me facepalm the most are the ones that realise he's $20 up, but claim that only $10 of that is "profit". What's the other $10 then!? Magic?

Jesus wept.

$20

Sorry I meant profit of $20

The simple answer is $20.

The complicated answer is - it depends. How long did he have possession of the horse and what was the cost of maintaining it (feed, care, vets bills, etc)? What were the transportation costs? Over what period did this all occur, and do we want to adjust for inflation?

ThePants999. Infuriating? ...really?...i still dont know the answer.hell i took Peeriebreeks advice and now im not even that sure what the question was. (thats pretend,i will but later)...infuriating.wow.and Chrys2017.why did he cry? .... you know what you know.if you dont know ask. stupid isnt not knowing.stupid is not clarifying and moving on. if you ask me.

The perceived £10 loss is a loss on the potential profit had he hung onto the horse he bought for £60 and sold for £90. If he hadn't fannyed about selling it and buying it back he'd be £30 up. But he made some bad decisions and the £10 "loss" in the middle means his profit is only £20.

It is infuriating because this is a simple sum that most ten-year-olds can do.
Why is it considered amusing and even acceptable to be mathematically illiterate? Do you also think it's funny that there are grown adults in the UK that can't read?

Look at it as two separate transactions. On the first, he makes $10. On the second he also makes $10.

Funnily enough I am fairly good at maths and the wording on the did trip me up. Potentially because I was trying to overcomplicate it as it seemed too "easy", therefore if people were tripping up iver it there must have been a bit of a trick to it. There wasn't. I got 10 and was wrong

Apparently people also fail to understand that it doesn't matter in what order you add or subtract a column of numbers—you will still end up with the same number.

Up $20. I had to do a funny back and forth 'horse trading' thing with my fingers though.

I think most ten year olds would probably start at the beginning and work through which is why they’d get the correct answer.

Where I think most people go wrong is in realising you don’t need to do that but then getting the various short cuts mixed up.

The answer is 20 but there’s at least 3 different ways to get there that I can see.

Chrys and The pants - what is your problem?

Some people have a maths brain, some people don't. I don't and realise that my skills lie elsewhere. Should I make light of it to make a personally frustrating situation less rubbish for myself or should I feel embarrassed and strive to better my maths skills endlessly?

Clearly you think the latter, but given I was told by my school that i had to sit the 'easy' GCSE and given that I literally cannot understand some sums when they're explained to me and that my brain struggles to add for example 6 + 8 if I feel any pressure, well I choose to accept I'm not a mathematician. Instead I focus on my skills and when I am caught out on my horrendous maths abilities (which believe me I am regularly) then I will make a joke of it whether you like it or not

I suppose some people think that he started out with 60 and ends with 90, so he made 30 profit.
Of course that cannot be right, because he couldn't have bought the horse back for 80 if he started with only 60.
How people get to the 10 dollar answer I don't understand... brainzaps?

Why is it considered amusing and even acceptable to be mathematically illiterate? Do you also think it's funny that there are grown adults in the UK that can't read?

Interestingly I'd say this is more of a literacy problem than a maths one. The question is worded to deliberately trick the reader.

I misread the original question. What a chump.

@tolerable I get why you say 30, but you missed that he paid an extra 10 in the middle, so while he has 90, he has paid 70 of his own money to get that 90, so profit is 20.

I don't think the thread is infuriating, I've actually found it illuminating. It has helped me understand how people get stuck on this - this one simple to me, but if I had got stuck on the 10 'loss' then I may well have found it tricky to see past it.

i get why you say that...but...are you sure?.

"it was at that moment,even she herself realised that was twatty. but funny lol lol.

20, people get wrapped up in the details. two columns debits and credits