Three young brothers had saved $10 each to buy a second hand locomotive. They arrive at the shop and see one on the shelf, Behind the counter is a young girl serving as the owner of the shop, is out. The brothers ask, “How much is that loco on the shelf” she replies “$30” The brothers hand over the $30 they had saved between them and leave the shop with the loco. At the same time, the owner arrives back and seeing that the loco is missing from the shelf, asks the girl how much she had sold it for, she states $30. The owner says, “Oh dear, it was only $25, run after them and give them $5 back”. Out runs the girl with the $5. On nearing the brothers, she has a brainwave, and thinks to herself, “I’ll keep $2 and give the brothers $1 each back.” This she does, but here is the problem. The brothers have now paid only $9 each for the loco, 3*9= $27 plus the $2 in the girls handbag, where has the other $1 gone……………………….
Thanks for the wake-up Paul. I think this is covered under the rules for algebra: add,subtract,multiply,divide, thus 30 - 3 = 27, 27 - 2 = 25. BTW, I got terrible grades in math in High School, finally when I was at the machinist course after I joined the ARMY a Marine Gunnery Sergeant explained it to me well enough so I could make it work. Thank you Gunnery Sergeant LeGrand. Bobby
The brothers paid $30 total. They got $3 back, so they ended up paying $27. The hobby shop has $25, and the girl has $2. $25+$2+$3=$30. Dwight
Paul, That's a good one. Glad to see some people figured it out. The trick to this problem is that it is all about subtraction but the question is stated like you would be doing addition. By the way, what kind of engine did the boys buy?
