Yesterday, among other things Edwin returned home with some Maths homework. Nothing particularly unusual about that. His work was based around the topic area of percentage increase. Again, fairly routine stuff for year eights, apparently. He assured me that the trainee mathematician simply needed to know the right formula and then Robert is your mother's brother. Despite retiring from competitive Maths in 1985, proudly with my two grade C Maths O levels, and having no desire to come out of retirement, I took the plunge and asked for a question. It read:
"Lucy sold a television for RM4350. She made a profit of 20%. How much did she buy it for?"
The way my brain went into overdrive very quickly proved to me that I have chosen the right career path. I was not particularly interested in how much profit Lucy made although I did quickly note that depending on when exactly Lucy sold her television she would have received anywhere between £860 (August 2012) and £600 (now) due to the fluctuations in the exchange rate.
Next I started to consider the nature of selling secondhand appliances. Many years ago Lexi and I sold a VW campervan just as they were starting to appreciate in value, making a small profit. However I have never heard of anyone making a profit on used electronics. Unless of course they are stolen goods. Shocking thought: was Lucy a thief? But then the question did seem to imply that she was, in some way, involved in audio visual retail. Where did she purchase the set from? Could I use this source too? Was it open to public sale? Could I end up buying a rather nice TV at a knock-down price? Maybe Lucy ran a market stall? "Get your TVs here!"
But then was the buyer getting a good deal, I thought? Was Lucy ripping off a friend in the sale of this particular machine? In short, could Lucy be trusted and should I report her to the police? If Lucy approached me in the street would I be tempted by her offer a TV? If she was selling potentially dodgy TVs then what else might she be selling?
By this point I had forgotten the purpose of the question and Edwin would, no doubt have finished his other questions. But I was still struggling with the morality the whole situation.
Maybe the solution to my situation is closer than I think. I reckon the way to solve my curiosity is to set this question for one of my Drama classes to see if they can help. Could they make up plays to help investigate exactly how Lucy might have got hold of the TV in question?
Just in case anyone hasn't worked it out the answer is RM725, quite a nice profit. But then surely it would have been nicer for Lucy simply to pass the TV on at cost price to the buyer? I don't reckon anyone will buy a set form her now.