Well, to me it's just 50-6=$44, that's it. This puzzle is slightly complicated by the fact that we dont know if the 50 is fake or not. So there is no definite answer who gains that $44. To simplify, we know the owner paid $50 extra to somebody while made $6 profit, so he lost $44, that's it. Going back to your balance sheet, the "+$50" is questionable, you are essentially saying the $50 the owner got is not fake, and the neighbor gained $44.
This is the funniest thread I have read for a long, long time Hahahahahahaha thanks for the entertainment, it is a welcome distraction.
Are you guys blind? The answer is in the article.. and it's friggin easy to calculate anyway. How the heck can anyone think otherwise.. -.-?
The question is: how much money Mike lost at the end of the day? The owner lost $50. The question does not ask you what were Mike’s total losses, -just how much money his he lost. In essence the Owner Borrowed $50 dollors. The crook then got $29 dollars. At this point, the owner still has $21 left in his pocket. The neighbor asks for him money back. Mike the store owner gives him back the $21 he has in his pocket, plus $29 for a total of $50. If you want the total losses, it is the $50 dollars plus the cost of the shoes, for a total of $65. If you include the lost profit, it is $71. But lets got back to the orginal question, "how much money Mike lost at the end of the day?", your answer is $50.
ok My turn let's start right before the owner bought the shoes: $0 Gives $15 for shoes: -$15 Takes $21 from buyer for shoes: $6 (-15 + 21 = 6) Gives $50 to neighbor: -$44 (6 - 50 = 44) Owner is now $44 poorer. Remember, when the owner took the $50 to the neighbor, he received $50 in different bills back, so there is no gain or loss in that transaction. The loss occurs only when the neighbor comes and takes $50 from the owner.
How anyone can argue that the answer is not $44 is beyond me. That's the answer that came to my mind 1 minute after I read the question.
Thanks. But I still think Mike deserved that profit, because he was not supposed to be responsibe for the fake $50. Happy to know you guys here.
Yes there is an oportunity cost of 6 bucks. Why do you think he has a store? He cannot earn money elsewhere when he is showing shoes to this b*stard who gave him a fake bill? What about when he is running around making change for her? The is an oportunity cost in everything. Why don;t you go around making change or working at a shoe store for free? Because you can make money working. His decision was to make money here, not elsewhere, which means he lost the money he could have made elsewhere. But you give him a salary of zero dollars. oh yeah, since you love these.
You guys who say the profit cannot not count as a loss are wrong. The question is stuipid because it does not even realize that the profit is a loss. What if you are a custom builder of widgets. The parts to build one costs you 30 dollars, you spend 1 day of labor per widget and you charge 100 dollar per widget. If someone steals enough parts to build exactly one widget, your loss is 30 dollars. If someone steals a widget, your loss is 100 dollars. The shoe store already provided the service of selling the shoe, which including providing change.
Let me ask you this. Suppose he sold the shoe to the customer, and it was all legit. How much money did he make -- $6 or $0? If you answer $6, then that means you're assuming the baseline as being $15 instead of $21 (cost of shoe, versus price of shoe). And if you accept that "money lost" is simply the negation of "money made", then the answer to the posted question must be $44.
If the shoe is only worth $15 dollars at the retail level then why is the selling price 21? At the wholesale level it is wirth 15 at the retail level it is 21. The market sets the value.
New question: Mike has a pair of shoes worth $15, and he would sell at $21. He sat there for the whole day -- nobody came. How much did he lose? If your answer is $6, then too bad -- he happens to have some other $10000 stuff that he could sell for $15000. He just lost another $5000. He obviously has to close his store immediately otherwise he would lost another $5000 tomorrow. What a fast way to go broke. Hopefully now you can see the answer $50 doesn't make any sense.
