Hans made a meandering journey from Paris to Roye. On the first day, he went half of the distance. On the second day, he went one third of the remaining distance. On the third day he went three quarters of the remaining distance. The next day he traveled half of the remaining distance and was left with 5 kilometers to get to Roye. How far was the entire journey?
Day 1 – 60 km (60 km remaining)
Day 2 – 20 km (40 km remaining)
Day 3 – 30 km (10 km remaining)
Day 4 – 5 km (5 km remaining)
Day 5 – 5 km (arrives in Roye)
Early one morning Hal, the owner of a hardware store, sells a mailbox for $25 to Courtney that cost him $20 wholesale. Courtney pays with a $100 bill and Hal discovers he doesn’t have enough change. He runs to the jewelry shop next door, where Jack, the owner, gives him change in exchange for the $100. Later that afternoon, Jack discovers the $100 bill is a counterfeit and Hal pays him $100 to make it right.
The total loss was $95.
-$20 = The wholesale cost of the mailbox
$100 = The money from Jack
-$75 = The change paid to Courtney
-$100 = To pay Jack back
-$20 + $100 – $75 – $100 = -$95
It’s easy to think Hal lost $195 but that fails to account for the $100 used to make the change, which came from Jack, not Hal. Jack paid $100 in exchange for a worthless piece of paper, so the $100 was initially Jack’s loss. Hal had made a $5 profit until Jack’s discovery. If you guessed $100, that’s arguably correct, but not making $5 in profit isn’t a loss in the strictest sense of the word.
I spit like bacon, am made with an egg,
I have plenty of backbone but lack good legs,
I peel like an onion but still remain whole,
I’m long like a flagpole, yet fit in a hole