A brain-teaser for you..

Deeps

With so many challenges going on around the blogosphere, I thought I would also throw one at you all 🙂

Not exactly a challenge, its more of a riddle. So here it goes..

A lady goes to a shop and shops for Rs. 800. She hands over a 1000 rupee note to the shop keeper. Since, the shopkeeper does not have change, he goes to another shop keeper and gets change for Rs. 1000. He hands over Rs. 200 as balance to the lady. She walks off.

Later, the 2nd shopkeeper comes to the first and demands his Rs. 1000 back as the 1000 rupee note was fake.

What was the total loss incurred by 1st shopkeeper?

Have fun racking your brains! 😀

**The Comment moderation on till Wednesday the 26th. The answer shall be revealed then 🙂

27 thoughts on “A brain-teaser for you..”

  1. Rs. 2000. The lady took away things worth Rs. 800 and Rs. 200 as change, and he had to pay the second shopkeeper Rs. 1000..adds up to Rs. 2000. But wait, there must be a catch somewhere, right? Let me think some more 🙂

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    1. Okay I now think it’s Rs. 1000. The shopkeeper got paid Rs 800 for the goods bought, just that he had to give away that, plus rs. 200, to the second shopkeeper. Adds up to Rs. 1000.

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  3. Ok is this a trick question? 😛 THere is no mention of whether the first shopkeeper gave him back the change or said “finders keepers, losers weepers” :mrgreen:

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    1. Ok maybe total of 1200? 800 (item shopped) + 200 (balance for the lady) + 200 (800 returned to the shopkeeper plus 200 substituted)?

      Wait, I am going into further “what if” scenarios. What if the second shopkeeper was lying and the note was really not fake?? 😀 😀

      As you can see, I have far more skills in creative writing than maths! 😛 😛
      Just tell me the damn answer!
      Will wait for it!

      P.S.: Wednesday is too long a wait 😦

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  4. Rs.3000…

    Products worth 800
    Nalance given to lady 200
    1000 owing to fake note
    1000 to 2nd shopkeeper

    Put together Rs.3000 is the loss incurred by 1st shopkeeper. I hope I am right. 🙂

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  8. 2000 is the total loss = 1000 (to be returned to second shopkeeper) + 200 (the change he gave to the woman) + 800 (the value of the goods the woman took from his shop)

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  10. Dear Namnam

    This masi of yours has always been pathetic in mathematics..dont let Amma tell you that masi claims to be an engineer. Whatever is the loss to the shop keeper, who cares..I wonder which lady shops for Rs.800 with a Rs.1000 note doesnt think of adding Rs.200 ka extra stuff to round it off eh?..bolo bolo

    love
    RM Masi 🙂

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  11. The shopkeeper lost 1000 bucks, 800 in the shopped items, and 200 in cash :), because that’s what the lady gained 😀
    Anyhoo, I must confess this is our entry test for anyone who joins the team, so cheating! But in my defense I had passed it when it was my turn 4 years ago, so not so much cheating 😉 The number of times I have explained the answer to people with pieces of paper is unbelievable though!

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  13. Hi

    I reached your page from Shail’s blog.

    This quiz caught my eye.

    Good question. If its a straight-forward question the answer is as follows:

    Obvious / Direct loss – Purchase Price of the material sold + 200 given back as change.

    Notional Loss – Transportation + Inventory keeping + Finance cost (but we need not go that far)

    (He was only returning the 1000 collected from the other shop-keeper – so he did-not lose any money in that transaction)

    Regards!

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  14. Pingback: The answer.. | Perceptions

  16. Say the shopkeeper had 10000 Rupees in his cash drawer..

    and the lady comes and says i have a 1000 rs note, hw goes and give that fake note to the other shopkeeper, getting 1000 rs in change from him, and then he gives 800 out of them to the lady,

    The shopkeeper now has 10,200 rupees with him. The other shopkeeper says that the note is fake and he demands his money back, so the shopkeeper gives him 1000rupees and is left with 9,200 rupees with him…

    also as the lady took that 200 rupees worth goods for free, the shopkeeper has an additional loss of 200 rupees, which makes his cash drawer effectively at 9,000 rupees

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  17. Total loss Rs. 1000 was incurred by the shopkeeper. He had received Rs. 1000 from the second shopkeeper out of which he returned Rs. 200 to the girls and kept Rs. 800 as the price of the goods sold to the girl (goods price is already received). know the second shopkeeper asked for Rs. 1000 for the note being fake. The first shopkeeper puts 200 rupees from his pocket and plus Rs. 800 price received and hands over to the second shopkeeper so the total loss he brought to bear upon himself is Rs. 1000

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