wu :: forums - Print Page


    
      
        wu :: forums
        (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        riddles >> easy >> A Fool And His Money
        
(Message started by: Jeremiah Smith on Sep 25^th, 2003, 11:51am)

Title: A Fool And His Money
Post by Jeremiah Smith on Sep 25^th, 2003, 11:51am

Hey all... haven't been here in forever, but I have returned with a simple puzzle I came across a few days ago. (I searched for it, but it doesn't appear to have been posted while I was gone):

The residents of a certain village enjoy pointing out the antics of the local village fool to passing travellers. The villagers will offer the fool a choice between a shiny 50-cent coin and a beaten-up dollar bill. Invariably, the fool will take the shiny coin despite the fact that it's worth less, and the visitor and the residents will walk off laughing heartily. Why on earth would the fool always take the 50-cent piece, even though he knows that the bill is worth more?

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by towr on Sep 25^th, 2003, 1:58pm

[hide]because people will keep giving him 50 cent coins if he does this. And multiple 50 cent coins are worth more than one measily dollar.

So actually a coin is worth more, since part of the value lies in the continuation of the cycle[/hide]

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by James Fingas on Sep 26^th, 2003, 8:24am

Because he knows that he and his money will soon go their separate ways ... and it will be easier to say goodbye to 50 cents than to a dollar.

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by Speaker on Sep 26^th, 2003, 5:44pm

The fool, no fool he, is actually an accomplished student of advanced monetary economics, who understands that the economy of his village will soon be taken off the silver standard causing uncontrolled hyper-inflation reducing the value of paper money to little more than the paper it is printed on. Consequently the value of his hoard of silver coins will skyrocket allowing him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by Nomnolence on Oct 18^th, 2003, 3:08am

Nope, it's because people are stupid enough to carry on giving him 50c to marvel his apparent stupidity.

Therefore, the fool is not a fool, only the travellers are :)

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by Nomnolence on Oct 18^th, 2003, 3:09am

To make it plainer, if he took the 1$, nobody would give him money any more.

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by harpanet on Oct 18^th, 2003, 6:27am

In addition, over time, residents and visitors are going to start baiting him with $5 bills and then $10 etc. Once he has convinced them that he is so dumb they'll start offering $100 bills. Once sufficient people reach that level on a continual basis he will suddenly switch tactics and take as many $100 bills as he can before word gets around, and then skip town.

Title: Re: A Fool And His Money
Post by Icarus on Oct 18^th, 2003, 5:47pm

Nomnolence, If you highlight Towr's post, you will see that he gave the same answer. Whenever you find blank areas in these forums, there is probably hidden text in them. We do this so that when people first see the question, they don't see the answer right below it as the same time - so that they have a chance to think it out themselves.

Also, for tougher puzzles, you can give hints for those who just want a push in the right direction.

To hide text, use the hide tag: [hide] [/hide].