[Rockhounds] A Mineral Puzzle

[pmodreski at aol.com]

That was really cute, Larry, thanks.  I had to read through & think about it 2 or 3 times (or maybe 4) before I figured out how to resolve the paradox.

Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Rush <larryrush at worldnet.att.net>
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 9:16 am
Subject: [Rockhounds] A Mineral Puzzle


The Celestite Sale- A Puzzle 
 
 
Last year, I was selling minerals at a Connecticut show, when a small family stopped by to look at my booth. The young boy, maybe nine or ten years old, was immediately taken by the electric blue color of a Madagascar Celestite I had for sale for $30. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it, and started pestering his mother and father to buy it for him. Evidently he had been given $10 to spend at the show, but this far exceeded that. Finally, after a long period of pleading, his mother told the father that, if they each would chip in $10, he could buy it, and their contribution would count towards his birthday present, a few weeks away. This proved agreeable, they paid me the $30, and I wrapped up the specimen, to be proudly carried away by the youngster. 
 
 
A few minutes later, my wife returned from wandering, and I told her about the boy and the sale. She reminded me that the Celestite was marked as “on sale”, for $25! She looked around, and saw the family not far away. I gave her five $1 bills to t
ake to them, and off she went. However, on the way there, she stopped and bought a large soda, spending 2 of the 5 one dollar bills. So when she caught up with the family, she gave them only $3 as a refund, explaining that they had paid too much. 
 
 
The mother thanked my wife, took the three $1 bills, and gave one each to herself, her husband, and her son. 
 
 
This means that they each paid $9 for the Celestite, or a total of $27. If you add in the $2 she spent on the soda, the total came to $29. 
 
 
What happened to the other dollar???? 
 
 
 
Larry Rush 
 
 
(Please do not copy without permission) 
 




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