Jump to content
BrainDen.com - Brain Teasers
  • 0


Guest
 Share

Question

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
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. :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

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. :) :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
if the taxes build on each other or make a non-tenth-place number in real life, it's rounded, so it's okay :D

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. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

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 :P

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 :D) 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
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 :P

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 :D ) 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

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::lol: :lol:P.S. I never heard of an amusement tax in my lifetime. Could that be to throw me off???

Edited by akaslickster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Answer this question...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...