superprismatic Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 For haggling purposes, a curio dealer tagged his wares with the cost price, enciphered by a simple substitution of letters for numbers. In order to improve his haggling position, a collector attempted to break the system by noting the letters on the tags of certain items in the window and then asking the prices therefor. Three items bore tags CJ.GA, IB.DA, and FH.AE, and the prices asked were, respectively, $19.71, $39.69, and $53.46. He assumed (correctly) that these prices represented the same percentage mark-up. What were the cost prices and what was the mark-up? Superprismatic's remark: Note the use of the nearly archaic term "therefor". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 one question before i really look at this. are the final prices exact or rounded. For example could the mark up actually lead to the price 19.714634555? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 superprismatic Posted July 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 one question before i really look at this. are the final prices exact or rounded. For example could the mark up actually lead to the price 19.714634555? Rounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 so im done with this for now but i worked on it quite a while and i have an answer that is quite close i think but because of the nature of the problem i am probably way off so my guess is a mark up of 33% prices of 14.-- 28.-- 39.-- this give you a mark up of 37ish % switching the 8 and 9 gives you a 36% both of these answers are off by cents im pretty sure the 1 is right i mean the only other choice is 0 and thats a wash 4 im pretty sure too but thats going out on a limb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 ok re did my mathish I made a table and then eliminated candidates for each number and found mark up 8% seems hes a little nicer then what i first thought 1825 3675 4950 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question
superprismatic
For haggling purposes, a curio dealer tagged
his wares with the cost price, enciphered by
a simple substitution of letters for numbers.
In order to improve his haggling position,
a collector attempted to break the system by
noting the letters on the tags of certain
items in the window and then asking the
prices therefor. Three items bore tags
CJ.GA, IB.DA, and FH.AE, and the prices asked
were, respectively, $19.71, $39.69, and
$53.46. He assumed (correctly) that these
prices represented the same percentage
mark-up. What were the cost prices and what
was the mark-up?
Superprismatic's remark: Note the use of
the nearly archaic term "therefor".
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