A barber had his first customer of the day, who happened to be a friend. When he was done, the barber refused to take the money from the customer. The fellow said, "Look, I know we're friends, but, business is business. I want to pay for my haircut."
The barber said, "Here's what we'll do. You open the cash register. I don't have any idea how much money is in there. But, you match whatever is in there, and then take out 20 bucks."The customer says, "Okay," and he does that.
The barber says, "Gee, I kind of like this." So, the next customer comes in, he gets his haircut, and the barber says, "You can do the same thing my first customer did. Open the cash register, match what's in there, and then take out 20 bucks."The second customer does that, and he leaves. The third customer does the same. The fourth customer, after receiving his haircut, opens the cash register, and says, "I can't do it. "
The barber says, "Why not?""There's no money in here. Not a cent."
The question is, how much money was in there to start?
Solution to the Problem:
There was originally $17.50 in the drawer.Let x = amount of money in the drawer at the start of the day.
After the first customer, there is 2x - 20 dollars in the drawer.
After the second customer, there is 2 (2x - 20) - 20 dollars left,
or 4x - 60 dollars.
After the third customer, there is 2 (4x - 60) - 20 dollars left,
or 8x - 140 dollars.
x = 17.50.
Keith Mealy made the following observations:
"If the till starts with $20, there is an equilibrium point, as each person adds and removes $20.
If the till starts with more than $20, then each person adds (progressively) more than he removes and
the till will increase with each customer."
Correctly solved by:
1. Mike Singer | Winchester, Virginia |
2. William Proffitt | Winchester, Virginia |
3. Jim Arrison | Norristown, Pennsylvania |
4. John Funk | Ventura, California |
5. Mac Dillon | Columbus, Georgia |
6. Arsalan Heydarian | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
7. Walt Arrison | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
8. Larry Schwartz | Trumbull, Connecticut |
9. Angelo Leone | Middletown, Connecticut |
10. Amir Mohammadzaeh | Tehran, Iran |
11. David & Judy Dixon | Bennettsville, South Carolina |
12. Derick Gilkeson | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
13. Misty Carlisle | Winchester, Virginia |
14. Keith Mealy | Cincinnati, Ohio |
15. António Baptista | Lisboa - Portugal |
16. Alex McIntire | Columbus, Georgia |
17. Charles Washington | Winchester, Virginia |
18. Rob Adams | Winchester, Virginia |
19. Daniel Surber | Winchester, Virginia |
20. Jeffrey Gaither | Winchester, Virginia |
21. Ali Wade | Columbus, Georgia |
22. Arin Smith | Winchester, Virginia |
23. James Alarie | University of Michigan -- Flint, Flint, Michigan |
24. Nathan Seifert | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
25. Ann Norman | Columbus, Georgia |
26. Jason Storer | Winchester, Virginia |
27. Chris Rogers | Winchester, Virginia |
28. Jackie Henson | Columbus, Georgia |
29. Nathan Riley | Wichita, Kansas |
30. Michael Lewis | ---------- |
31. Rebecca | Columbus, Georgia |
32. Wajih Ansari | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
33. Sheila Shah | Arlington, Virginia |
34. Henry Woodward | Columbus, Georgia |
35. Emily Auerbach | Columbus, Georgia |
36. ShowSam@aol.com | ---------- |
37. Gilbert Melanson | Sierra Vista, Arizona |
38. Jeanette Crawford | Columbus, Georgia |
39. Mary Helen Calhoun | Columbus, Georgia |