This is a riddle that not a lot of people get right. It is translated from russian to english by me, so it may or may not make sense(although it should).. well, here it is.

A seller is selling a hat for 10 dollars. A customer comes and decides to buy it, but he only has a 20 dollar bill. The seller askes his helper to get change from a neighbor for the customer’s 20 dollar bill. The helper gets change of 10+5+5. The seller takes 10 dollars for the hat, and gives the customer the hat and $10 change. Some time later, the neighbor goes to the seller and says the money the helper gave her was “fake”, and wants her money back. The seller has no choice but to give her back her money. How much money does the seller actually lose?

just a little edit, maybe it will make things a bit clearer.

mooo1 - 24 August 2005 09:19 PM

This is a riddle that not a lot of people get right. It is translated from russian to english by me, so it may or may not make sense(although it should).. well, here it is.

A seller is selling a hat for 10 dollars. A customer comes and decides to buy it, but he only has a 20 dollar bill. The seller askes his helper to get change from a neighbor for the customer’s 20 dollar bill. The helper gets 10+5+5. The seller takes 10 dollars for the hat, and gives the customer the hat and $10 change. Some time later, the neighbor goes to the seller and says the money the helper gave her was fake, and wants her money back. The seller has no choice but to give her back her money. How much money does the seller actually lose?

When the seller gives the money back, does she also take the hat back?  If not then the seller simply lost the ten dollars the hat was worth.

I won’t give away the answer yet. anyone else wanna give it a try?

I would’ve said the seller lost $30…$20 for the funny money, and $10 on the hat.

A good buisnessman would never just give back the money, he or she would demand the hat back.

Citizen Premier - 24 August 2005 10:22 PM

When the seller gives the money back, does she also take the hat back?  If not then the seller simply lost the ten dollars the hat was worth.

Actually since most sellers would have bought the hat wholesale to sell for a profit, the seller would only have lost what the hat cost him. I think I read in America the sellers cost of an item is on average 50%, but it could be as low as 10% of the selling price. Soooo, even only using the average, the seller would only lose the $5.00 or less he or she spent on the product. Unless they made it themselves, in which case it is only the cost of materials and time lost.

And now I feel a little smarmy. That’s not how I meant this….just pointing out they wouldn’t have lost the $10 they were charging for the hat, really, unless you can count it as a potential future sale lost which is just silly.

Citizen Premier - 25 August 2005 01:42 AM

A good buisnessman would never just give back the money, he or she would demand the hat back.

Assuming that the seller knew where to find the unknown customer who bought the hat with the funny money. I would assume that they were long gone, and there’d be no getting the hat back.

Winona - 25 August 2005 02:01 AM

Citizen Premier - 25 August 2005 01:42 AM

A good buisnessman would never just give back the money, he or she would demand the hat back.

Assuming that the seller knew where to find the unknown customer who bought the hat with the funny money. I would assume that they were long gone, and there’d be no getting the hat back.

Right, because the neighbor who provided the change, and the patron who bought the hat with funny money are two different people. However, the seller is out the hat ($10) + $10 more.

The seller got $20 in change (real money) from the neighbor and then gave the patron the hat ($10) plus $10 in real money change and then put the other $10 real money into their own register. SO, when the neighbor came over wanting her real $20 back the seller is only losing $10 from his own register plus the hat. ($10) His register total went up $10 real money before he had to refund the neighbors’ $20… so he’s only losing $10 + the hat.

$20 total loss is my guess.

Ah, right. I wasn’t thinking clearly earlier. I’m wiped!

The answer is $40

The seller is out the $20 funny money
$10 for the hat
and $10 for change

Sharruma - 25 August 2005 07:16 AM

The answer is $40

The seller is out the $20 funny money
$10 for the hat
and $10 for change

Funny money is not money... therefore he can’t be “out” of it and it shouldn’t count towards the total amount of money he’s lost.

mooo1 - 24 August 2005 09:19 PM

A seller is selling a hat for 10 dollars.
A customer comes and decides to buy it, but he only has a 20 dollar bill.
The seller askes his helper to get change from a neighbor for the customer’s 20 dollar bill.
The helper gets change of 10+5+5. The seller takes 10 dollars for the hat, and gives the customer the hat and $10 change.
Some time later, the neighbor goes to the seller and says the money the helper gave her was “fake”, and wants her money back.
The seller has no choice but to give her back her money. How much money does the seller actually lose?

Just using the money here (and not MSRP or wholesale prices), the seller ends up giving back the $10 from the original “20” bill, and one of his own $10 bills.  So, he is out $20 and a hat.