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Friday, April 18, 2008

But is it Worth Paying the Gas to Go Back?

A bookstore has a complicated, but nice discount policy. If you buy a $20 book today, you get a 2% discount on your next purchase. Buy a $15 book, and you get 1.5% discount on your next purchase.

If you buy three books that cost $10, $20 and $30, you could buy the $30 book today, the $10 book tomorrow (with a 3% discount) and the $20 book the next day and get a 1% discount. Or you could buy the $30 and $20 book today and get 5% back on your $10 purchase tomorrow.

What is the cheapest way to buy five books at $10, $20, $30, $40 and $50?

2 comments:

  1. * I buy $20 and $30 books today.
    * Then I buy $40 and $50 books in
    the next purchase.
    * I get 2% discount on this
    purchase.so I pay $88.2(90*2/100)
    * Next day i buy $10 book on which
    I get 5% discount. so I pay $9.5
    * Total amount paid is $147.7

    ReplyDelete
  2. I believe you can save more.

    You put together $80 worth of books the first day and get 8% on a $70 purchase tomorrow. Or, you could put together $70 the first day and get 7% on a $80 purchase tomorrow. Both ways save you $5.60. Which means you pay a total of $144.40.

    ReplyDelete

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