Trivia

[moonshadow]

Well folks, it's Tuesday! And that means, it's time for the answer to be revealed!

Let me just say first that most people get this wrong, so in light of this thread, that shows one of a few things, either everyone cheated and checked Google, or, men who wear skirts are smarter than the average bear.

Personally, I'm betting it's the latter.

I'll be the first to admit, when a coworker first told me the mind puzzle, I blurted out 10 cents. In fact, it took about 10 minutes of explaining before I could wrap my mind around the answer.

Mr. Anderson has had too much fun with this one!

[crfriend]

I'll be the first to admit, when a coworker first told me the mind puzzle, I blurted out 10 cents. In fact, it took about 10 minutes of explaining before I could wrap my mind around the answer.

The trick is to not go with the gut answer but recognise that there are two conditions that must be met. This is, essentially, the beginners' introduction to parallel equations.

Mr. Anderson has had too much fun with this one!

I have to admit I got a chuckle out of that one.

[moonshadow]

The trick is to not go with the gut answer but recognise that there are two conditions that must be met. This is, essentially, the beginners' introduction to parallel equations.

Oh I knew the moment he asked me the question it couldn't be 10 cents because that answer seemed too obvious. After thinking on it for about 20-30 seconds I finally just said... "I don't know... I want to say 10 cents, but that's probably wrong?" To which he said I was and proceeded to explain the puzzle.

In all fairness I was driving at the time.

[r.m.anderson]

Distracted driving and all that - the ANSWER IS "TA-DA - drum roll"

AND the ANSWER is - well I am waiting with baited breath !!!!!

I am driven to get to the bottom of this - the answer is ----- !

Yes Officer I was replying with the answer on my Wi-Fi computer and

we are still WAITING for the Paul Harvey response with citation ?

Que sera sera

[partlyscot]

I admit, I first wanted to say 10 cents, but then ran the calculation through in my head to check and thought...hmm, that's not...Ah! 5 cents!

So face to face, you might have caught me out.

[Judah14]

Here is the complete solution:

First, assign variables for the price of the nail and hammer:
x: price of nail
x+1.00: price of hammer (because the hammer costs $1.00 more than the nail)

As the price of the hammer and nail combined is $1.10, we add the price of the nail and the price of the hammer and equate them to 1.10:
x+(x+1.00)=1.10
2x+1.00=1.10
2x=1.10-1.00
2x=0.10
x=0.05
Therefore, the nail costs $0.05.