[Guest]

Hello Everyone!!! I find this site interesting because me too is a fan of riddles,so for a treat, here's my personal favorite that i made for everyone!!

Peter, John and Mary happened to meet a good merchant!

For merchant's generosity, He give Peter 10 Mangoes, He also give 30 Mangoes to John, and lastly give 50 Mangoes to Mary!

The merchant told them to sell the Mangoes with fair price and no competition.

(no competition means if Peter sell the 1$ per mango, John and Mary would have to sell their Mangoes for 1$ per mango also, got it?)

After all the mangoes had been sold, Peter, John and Mary get the same amount from selling their mangoes

(Let's assume that if Peter get 10$ after his mangoes was sold out,

John also get 10$ after his 30 mangoes was sold out and Mary also got 10$ after her 50 mangoes was sold out)

How Did they sell it?

How did they arrive with same incomes knowing that there is no competition among them?

Wake up,wake up Brain Teaser Maniacs ()V

[Guest]

Mary sold all of hers for $3 each. Then John sold all of his for $5 each. Then Peter sold all of his for $15 each. They each sold a total of $150 with no competition since they didn't sell them at the same time!

[Guest]

I can think of two options:

Mary ate 40 mangos, while John ate 20 and Peter ate none. Hence, all of them had the same amount of mangos when the selling started.

They all formed a cooperative in order to have the mango-monopoly. This way, they could set whatever skyhigh price they wanted the mangos to be sold at, therefore maximizing profits. Afterwards, they divided shares equally.

[Guest]

I think Mary gave 20 or her Mangos to Peter, then they all had the same amount to sell. Then they went to the cloud and came up with a marketing solution and with a fair price. Then while using there smart phones to take credit card payments, they sent up a fund in an overseas account to gain massive amounts of interest.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Gray

[moonthirsty]

I probably missed an important point here. But what if Peter sells his mangoes along with coupons for "Buy 1 get 2 free" from Vendor John and "Buy one get 4 free" from Vendor Mary?

[Guest]

10x +30x +50x = 90x

90x/3 = 20x

All get the amount equal to sale price multiplied by 20. No matter sale price, all parties can divide it easily.

Fairly simple unless I missunderstood the riddle.

[Molly Mae]

10x +30x +50x = 90x

90x/3 = 20x

All get the amount equal to sale price multiplied by 20. No matter sale price, all parties can divide it easily.

Fairly simple unless I missunderstood the riddle.

You're assuming they split the profits from all mangoes. I don't think that's the case.

The only thing I can think of is that they sell them amongst each other so they end up with the same amount of mangoes they had before, but every mango has been sold at least once. After doing so, everyone has made a net of $0.

But it's better than using exchange rates...

[Guest]

If they were as generous as the merchant and each sold the mangos for 0$ a piece.. then they will all make an equal profit of 0$

[Guest]

All three sold their 1st 10 mangos for $1, when Peter sold all of his mangos, Mary and John decided not to compete with each other and lowered the price to zero. All three received $10 each.

[Guest]

This problem has many different solutions; there are not enough constraints.

Mary gives 20 of her mangos to Peter. Now Peter, John, and Mary each have 30 mangoes and sells each mango at a price of $1. They all end up with a $30 profit.

Mary, Peter, and John are all very generous and sell their mangos for $0. It won't matter the number of mangoes sold, they will all end up with the same profit, which is $0.

Mary, Peter, and John work together and add all of their mangoes together (equalling 90 mangoes). They form an alliance and decide to split whatever profits they obtain equally among the group. They sell each mango for $1 and split the profits three ways. They all end up with a $30 profit.

Mary was given mostly rotten mangoes and was only able to salvage 10 good mangoes to sell. John has 20 rotten mangoes and can only sell 10. Peter has no rotten mangoes, so he can sell all 10. They sell them for a profit of $1 each, and each ends up with a $10 profit. Though this is a highly unlikely solution, it is still possible.

Mary, Peter, and John each sell their mangoes for $1 a piece, but they give all of the money back to the good merchant. So, they each end up with a $0 profit. Personally, I'd go with the third solution but up the price slightly for a higher profit.

[Molly Mae]

This problem has many different solutions; there are not enough constraints.

Mary gives 20 of her mangos to Peter. Now Peter, John, and Mary each have 30 mangoes and sells each mango at a price of $1. They all end up with a $30 profit.

Mary, Peter, and John are all very generous and sell their mangos for $0. It won't matter the number of mangoes sold, they will all end up with the same profit, which is $0.

Mary, Peter, and John work together and add all of their mangoes together (equalling 90 mangoes). They form an alliance and decide to split whatever profits they obtain equally among the group. They sell each mango for $1 and split the profits three ways. They all end up with a $30 profit.

Mary was given mostly rotten mangoes and was only able to salvage 10 good mangoes to sell. John has 20 rotten mangoes and can only sell 10. Peter has no rotten mangoes, so he can sell all 10. They sell them for a profit of $1 each, and each ends up with a $10 profit. Though this is a highly unlikely solution, it is still possible.

Mary, Peter, and John each sell their mangoes for $1 a piece, but they give all of the money back to the good merchant. So, they each end up with a $0 profit. Personally, I'd go with the third solution but up the price slightly for a higher profit.

These are all, more or less, the same solution with different wording. *Shrug* Except for #4, but I don't think we can assume that some are rotten. Even if some were rotten, they are still mangoes, so they still must be sold (per the OP).

[wolfgang]

Peter bought all Mary`s Mangoes for 1.5$ each:

May will win...50x1.5=75$

Now peter will have 60 Mangoes,and John 30

They decided to sell their Mangoes for 2.5$ each:

Peter...60x2.5=150$

150-75(given to Mary)=75 win

John....30x2.5=75$ win

Thus all won the same

Edited April 29, 2011 by wolfgang

[Molly Mae]

Peter bought all Mary`s Mangoes for 1.5$ each:

May will win...50x1.5=75$

Now peter will have 60 Mangoes,and John 30

They decided to sell their Mangoes for 2.5$ each:

Peter...60x2.5=150$

150-75(given to Mary)=75 win

John....30x2.5=75$ win

Thus all won the same

The OP says they must sell their mangoes for the same price.

if Peter sell the 1$ per mango, John and Mary would have to sell their Mangoes for 1$ per mango also

Edited April 29, 2011 by Molly Mae

[Guest]

They should sell the mangoes "3 for $1".

Peter couples each of his mangoes with 20 of Mary's. When he runs out, he has $10 and both Mary and John have 30 mangoes left.

[Guest]

My response should say he couple them with 2 of Mary's mangoes...not 20.

[Guest]

Mary sold all of hers for $3 each. Then John sold all of his for $5 each. Then Peter sold all of his for $15 each. They each sold a total of $150 with no competition since they didn't sell them at the same time!

its says no competition, they must sell it for the same price

[Guest]

it's me again guys.... Whoa!! im glad for the replies hehehe

okay, for those who misunderstood the riddle says "there is no competition"

it means, they can set whatever price they like for their mango for as long as each of them has the same price in selling their mango

we did assume that after all the mangoes had been sold, peter get 10$ for selling all his mangoes, john get 10$ for selling all his mangoes and mary get 10$ for selling all her mangoes, so, there must be no zero income, right?

NO!

they did not combined their income

they did not give their mangoes to others

they did not sell their mangoes to each other

there's no rotten mangoes in here

they did not eat their mangoes or the mangoes of others

okay here's a catch:

the only thing they can ask to each other is the price of their mangoes so that they can set their price to the price set by others..

because as the rules says, no competition......

()V

[Guest]

I probably missed an important point here. But what if Peter sells his mangoes along with coupons for "Buy 1 get 2 free" from Vendor John and "Buy one get 4 free" from Vendor Mary?

if peter sells his mangoes for "buy 1 get 2 free", john and mary would have to sell also their mangoes for "buy 1 get 2 free" also, because as the rules says, no competition, got it?

[Guest]

Hmmmm.... I Guess Its Pretty Hard for all of you to find out right? hehehe

So for everyone..... here's the answer

Ok, Since we assume that Peter, John and Mary get 10$ after each of their mangoes was sold out, here's how they did it

1st, Peter Sell his Mangoes for 1$ per 7 pieces, since he has 10 mangoes, he got 1$ and 3 mangoes left, 10/7=1 r.3

John sells his mangoes for 1$ per 7 pieces also, since he has 30 mangoes, he get 4$ and 2 mangoes left, 30/7=4 r.2

Mary also sells her mangoes for 1$ per 7 pieces, since he has 50 mangoes, he get 7$ and 1 mango left, 50/7=7 r.1

Since, there are still mangoes left, Peter Decided to sell his mangoes for 3$ per mango, since he has still 3 mangoes, he get 9$ plus his 1$ from previous selling, he got 10$ income.

John also decided to sell his mangoes for 3$ per mango, since he has still 2 mangoes, he get 6$ plus 4$ from his previous selling earning 10$ as income.

Mary sell her mango for 3$ per mango, since he only got 1 mango left, he get 3$ plus 7$ from her previous selling earning 10$ income..

there you go, ladies and gentlemen, hapy selling hehehe

hope u enjoy my riddle

you can still solve this without opening the spoiler hehehe

[Molly Mae]

...is a heartless lady.

Using your same logic, there are many different answers, since anyone can dictate how many are sold and how much they are sold for.

-1

EDIT: And no, for the record, I did not call time a heartless "lady".

Edited May 3, 2011 by Molly Mae

[Guest]

Yeah...no.

There is competition. With themselves. Why the heck am I gonna pay $3 for a mango when just a few minutes agao I could have had 7 for $1?

And as my esteemed colleague said, there then are oodles of answers, some of which have already been stated.

[Guest]

i have one that works

they each sell 10 mangoes for $1 each

then the two people that still have mangoes sell them for the equvilent in euros so there is no competition and they each end with $10

[Guest]

All mangoes for 10 dollars...

[Guest]

Yeah...no.

There is competition. With themselves. Why the heck am I gonna pay $3 for a mango when just a few minutes agao I could have had 7 for $1?

And as my esteemed colleague said, there then are oodles of answers, some of which have already been stated.

Because as i said, they can set whatever price they like for as long all 3 of then have the same price in selling

and if your a buyer,you don't need to argue, if you don't want to buy, then don't buy, simple as that

[Guest]

All mangoes for 10 dollars...

if all mangoes are sold for 10$, Mary's mangoes will be sold out in an instant since her mangoes are cheapest 50mangoes per 10$,thus leaving John and Peter behind

there's still a competition because they did not sell equal number of mangoes

[Guest]

i have one that works

they each sell 10 mangoes for $1 each

then the two people that still have mangoes sell them for the equvilent in euros so there is no competition and they each end with $10

No Currency conversion here,just a simple day to day accounting in the market. hehehe

If the two people sell in euros, the other one must sell in euros too!

Edited May 4, 2011 by Ranchoddas Chanchad