Braingle: 'Antique lamps' Brain Teaser

Antique lamps

Math brain teasers require computations to solve.

Puzzle ID:	#333
Fun:	(2.42)
Difficulty:	(1.85)
Category:	Math
Submitted By:	Phyllis

A collector of antique lamps bought two lamps, and then, discovering she was short of money, immediately had to sell them again. She sold each lamp for $600. On one of the lamps she made 20% and on the other one she lost 20%. Did she make or lose money on the whole deal? How much?

Answer

She lost money. You can calculate that the one lamp cost $500 and the other one cost $750. That means she paid $1250 for them together and then sold them for $1200 losing $50.
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Comments

stephiesd Dec 14, 2005	i knew that she lost money, i just didn't bother to figure out how much.
elshawno May 09, 2006	ya, I thought since it was +20% and -20%, I figured it would be the same or lowered... what fun...
Writer_fighter Aug 08, 2006	Knew right off the bat she lost money
rrn0rrnrrnY Sep 06, 2006	I also knew she had a loss before actually computing. Poor lady sold them because she needed money, but didn't make any. Fun and funny teaser.
javaguru Jan 29, 2009	In addition to being intuitively evide t that she lost money, it is easy to determine the fraction. One lamp cost 5/6 of its selling price, the other cost 5/4 of its selling price. Since both lamps sold for the same amount, the lamps cost 5/6 x 5/4 = 25/24 of the selling price, so she lost 1/24 x 1200 = 50.
wwestar1000 Aug 10, 2010	i literally guessed 50$!