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Suppose, a litre of cola costs US$3.15. If you buy one third of a litre of cola, how much would you pay?
The above may seem like a rather basic question. Something that you would perhaps expect the vast majority of adults to be able to answer? Particularly if they are allowed to use a calculator.
Unfortunately, the reality is that a large number of adults across the world struggle with even such basic financial tasks (the correct answer is US$1.05, by the way).
[...] In many other countries, the situation is even worse. Four in every ten adults in places like England, Canada, Spain and the US can't make this straightforward calculation – even when they had a calculator to hand. Similarly, less than half of adults in places like Chile, Turkey and South Korea can get the right answer.
-- submitted from IRC
High number of adults unable to do basic mathematical tasks
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ese002 on Friday March 16 2018, @01:16AM (7 children)
$1.05 is the answer to "How much is the cost per 1/3 Liter?". The economically naive might think it is the answer to: "How much would you pay for 1/3 litre" but it is not.
The actual cost to provide are influenced by:
1) Packaging costs. The cost of the liquid varies by volume but the packaging varies mostly by surface area and a 1/3 L bottle has more than 1/3 the amount of plastic.
2) Shelf space. Shelf space has a cost that mostly relates to 2-D area. Shelf space occupied by a 1/3L bottle is even greater relative to 1L bottle than the packaging.
3) Handling costs. It is always cheaper to produce and sell fewer items in larger quantity.
A decent guess is that the 1/3L bottle of cola would actually cost around $2.
Even if there were no bottle, $1.05 would still be wrong due to handling costs.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 16 2018, @01:26AM (5 children)
Well since they asked, "How much would you pay?" my answer is 0. I don't buy cola or any sugared water for that matter.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by vux984 on Friday March 16 2018, @02:09AM (4 children)
No, they asked "If you buy one third of a litre of cola, how much would you pay?"
0 would only be the correct answer if you did NOT buy any cola. But since that was not the premise, 0 is not the answer.
" I don't buy cola or any sugared water for that matter."
Congratulations. You'd probably get along great with the guy that doesn't own a TV.
https://www.theonion.com/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-televisi-1819565469 [theonion.com]
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday March 16 2018, @04:26AM (1 child)
I would pay about $5. Want a bet it is the case? I am good up to 10K.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by dry on Friday March 16 2018, @05:14AM
Sure, you, Tim and I will evenly split a $3.15 litre of soda and whoever is stupid enough to throw in $5...
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Friday March 16 2018, @09:13AM (1 child)
If you want to be pedantic, in logic this kind of proposition is referred to as an ex falso quodlibet (EFQ) and reduces to false implies {any value}. If you would not buy cola, then the any value for the price is correct, because any derivation starting from a false premise is true.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday March 16 2018, @05:46PM
"If you want to be pedantic, [then B]"
Ok. I don't want to be pedantic. Therefore the rest of what you wrote is irrelevant. ;)
However, the usual interpretation of the logic construction for english sentences like:
"If you would not buy cola, then the any value for the price is correct, because any derivation starting from a false premise is true."
or
"If you want to be pedantic, in logic this kind of proposition [...]"
is to understand that the writer intends you to consider the 'then' clause, as constrained by the assumption that the premise is true.
Or as:
A
A -> B
therefore B must be true, for the above to be satisfied.
A
A -> B
find B
We're being asked to determine B such that the the statement are satisfied, constrained by the assumption that A is true.
(Score: 3, Touché) by unauthorized on Friday March 16 2018, @02:09AM
As well as those intelligent enough to understand that the question is hypothetical and they are supposed to treat it's elements as an abstraction.