Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 The state of Elsewhere added several taxes to everything. A $20 theatre ticket included a 15% amusement tax, a 5% city tax, and a 5% state tax. If there were no taxes how much would the ticket cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 unreality Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 do the taxes apply as 25% or do they build on each other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 (edited) $16.00. It was designed to trick you, I fell for it the first time. Edited July 4, 2008 by SillouhetteMind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 (edited) do the taxes apply as 25% or do they build on each other? You have to decide that. Edited July 4, 2008 by SillouhetteMind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 Yeah, tricked me also until I thought about it...on my calculator of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 do the taxes apply as 25% or do they build on each other? Sorry for the confusion...they are all added on at once. You are right though, if they were added on separately, the answer would be different...percentages are funny that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 unreality Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 so a 25% tax? in other words, 20 = 1.25x divide both sides by 1.25 = 16 = x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 Yep, that's what I got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 unreality Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 now if the taxes were separate, applied in the order you specified (15, 5, 5), then: 20 = (1.15(1.05(1.05x))) 20 = 1.267875x divide both sides by 1.267875 gives: approx $15.77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 I tried them separately too, then I realized that it can't be that because it can't be an approximation, so then I tried it by adding up the percents and I got an exact value. I liked this one. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 unreality Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 if the taxes build on each other or make a non-tenth-place number in real life, it's rounded, so it's okay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 if the taxes build on each other or make a non-tenth-place number in real life, it's rounded, so it's okay I agree with you, in real life we wouldn't pay attention to those kind of things, they would be rounded, but in math, it's about getting exact answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 akaslickster Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 25% of $20.00 leaves $15.00 because there is no sales tax.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 how come I got$15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 unreality Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 slick: percents don't work the same both ways. Your answer would be taking 25% off of 20, not adding 25% to the real amount try checking your work by adding 25% to $15... that's adding $3.75, which makes $18.75, not $20 think of adding 25% as multiplying by 1.25 and taking away 25% as multiplying by 0.75. 1.25 * .75 does NOT equal 1, which is the trap you fell for you have to DIVIDE by 1.25, not MULTIPLY by 0.75. Or you could multiply by the real reciprocal of 1.25 (not .75 ) which is 0.8. silhuoette: I see what you mean, but this is a riddle involving practical dollar values, so either could go ;D but the OP specified they added to 25% anyway, I was just saying this would be the answer IF they built on each other Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 How I'm reading it's either $20 and then the taxes are added or it's $16 cause the taxes shouldn't build on each other since it would be double taxation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 unreality Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 it's $16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 $20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 $15 20 - [.15(20)+.05(20)+.05(20)]=amount of ticket =$15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 slick: percents don't work the same both ways. Your answer would be taking 25% off of 20, not adding 25% to the real amount try checking your work by adding 25% to $15... that's adding $3.75, which makes $18.75, not $20 think of adding 25% as multiplying by 1.25 and taking away 25% as multiplying by 0.75. 1.25 * .75 does NOT equal 1, which is the trap you fell for you have to DIVIDE by 1.25, not MULTIPLY by 0.75. Or you could multiply by the real reciprocal of 1.25 (not .75 ) which is 0.8. silhuoette: I see what you mean, but this is a riddle involving practical dollar values, so either could go ;D but the OP specified they added to 25% anyway, I was just saying this would be the answer IF they built on each other Simplified for math in the head, ticket = 100% tax = ticket inc 25% tax = 125% divide price by 125 gives 1% x 100 = ticket price.... by the way taxes are not compounded (no tax on tax) Forgot sales tax and ticket recycling tax 2.5% each Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 akaslickster Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 (edited) There seems to be more to this than I care to determine, in which case, I will go with the popular answer. I choose to keep it a secret until I see the solution. :lol:P.S. I never heard of an amusement tax in my lifetime. Could that be to throw me off??? Edited July 4, 2008 by akaslickster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 I stand corrected. Yes if the tax is included then the price would be 20/1.25=16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 Did the same as u and got same answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 Ha Ha Ha... This is not THAT tricky question, but people are getting confused. The correct answer for the question is $16. This is how it works. It is a known fact that we are taxed for the actual prices of tickets (or any commodities), and not the final amount. So, if the price of the ticket is x(say), then 15% tax would be 0.15x. 5% tax would be 0.05x. So, adding up all these together, we get 1.25x = $20 x = 20/1.25 x = 16.x + 0.15x + 0.05x + 0.05x = $20 You cannot work backwards saying that 25% of $20 would be $5. Because, the 25% tax is not on the final $20 amount. It is on the initial $16 amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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The state of Elsewhere added several taxes to everything. A $20 theatre ticket included a 15% amusement tax, a 5% city tax, and a 5% state tax. If there were no taxes how much would the ticket cost?
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