the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Seen on the internet
'Prepare to Be Stumped By This Math Problem Meant for Fifth Grade'
A man buys a horse for $60
He sells it for $70
He rebuys it for $80
He resells it for $90
In the end how much money did he make or lose or did he break even
• What is so difficult about this, apparently new math does not teach logical thought.
• Starts with 60, has70 after sale, borrows 10, buys at 80, sells at 90. Has 90 minus borrowed 10, equals 80, profit 20

In 5th grade it's hard to stay focused on (solving) a problem for longer than 20 seconds, maybe it's teaching/addressing that...(?)

Yeah, there are faster ways to do calculations in one's head that are even faster than the "old" math. Depending on times tables and brute mechanical calculation works, but it takes little thought. I think that the "new" methods of calculating are less practical, but I do think it's more valuable to force children/students to think. The problem is that they have to take standardized tests that can only quantify right and wrong answers. And, in practice, people use calculators anyway. There's little point in them knowing how many whatzits are left and so and so many are bought and sold.

I had noticed in stores when I pay so that they can give me one note change [for example 20 plus 1.38 for an $11,38 bill ] I get a puzzled look

What's the depreciation on a horse? And are profits from the individual transactions taxable? How long between transactions? What's the cost of horse maintenance? Is the man using the horse for other revenue generating activities while he owns it?

This problem cannot be solved with the given information.

BHassler makes several valid points. +1

now I don't know anything about the horse market but a horse for anything under a $100 can't be much to have...By a bicycle or maybe a dandy horse