# Math question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644 "2019-07-06T23:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/21 "2019-07-07T18:58:02Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Another way of looking at it is that the guy is paying people to bring stones to him rather than having to go out and collect his own rocks. Since collecting and transporting the rocks what is probably a very short distance is not difficult, he shouldn’t pay very much at all. Hence my suggestion that he pay less than 5 cents/stone. If all he’s doing is paying for stones of his selection, I can see that. I got the sense, though, that he’s disappearing rocks and appearing dollars. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/22 "2019-07-07T20:05:53Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > If all he’s doing is paying for stones of his selection, I can see that. I got the sense, though, that he’s disappearing rocks and appearing dollars. He’s still paying people for rocks either way. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/23 "2019-07-07T20:56:18Z")
Regardless of the answer, the friend is a terrible businessman. Why is he charging other people anything less than $1.00 when he can just turns stones into dollar bills and keep them? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/24 "2019-07-07T20:58:20Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The real question is why is the fee so low? Even at 6 cents per change, he’d have people lined up around the block with massive quantities of rocks to change. He wouldn’t have time to do anything else. Instead, charge somewhere over 95 cents per change (with a limit of 100 stones per day per customer) and it’ll reduce the customer level to something bearable while not reducing his net fees. So low??? Given the price I paid for a small bag of landscaping stones, that price seems way too high! His ‘customers’ would be better off keeping their stones and selling them for use in stone-y situations: Landscaping stones. Concrete aggregate. Terrazzo floors. Stone kitchen countertops. Stone walls. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/25 "2019-07-08T03:51:56Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Those that are really good at it can turn a grain of sand into a Krugerrand. Superman can turn a lump of coal into a diamond without using his hands, but you probably don’t want to know how. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/26 "2019-07-08T04:55:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Regardless of the answer, the friend is a terrible businessman. Why is he charging other people anything less than $1.00 when he can just turns stones into dollar bills and keep them? He’s paying people for the service they provide. I.e. he doesn’t have to go out and scrounge up his own stones. But as I said, he shouldn’t pay them anymore than a few cents per rock for providing that service. There’s probably a minimum size, otherwise he could be a billionaire just by changing a cubic yard of fine gravel and he wouldn’t need this service. > [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > So low??? > > Given the price I paid for a small bag of landscaping stones, that price seems way too high! His ‘customers’ would be better off keeping their stones and selling them for use in stone-y situations: Landscaping stones. Concrete aggregate. Terrazzo floors. Stone kitchen countertops. Stone walls. Etc. Landscaping stones aren’t that expensive even if you get the more expensive stuff. After all, people leave those stones laying around on their yards. But the OP didn’t say they had to be any special rocks. So the customers could just scavange them from the side of roads or somewhere like that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/27 "2019-07-08T16:07:07Z")
[Moderating] The math question here, such as it is, is trivial, and most of the discussion is therefore about the nontrivial questions behind it. Which are all a better fit for IMHO than GQ. Moving. ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/28 "2019-07-08T17:13:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I interpreted the question to mean the last (as no other interpretation makes sense to me), but the OP should clarify. Yes, the latter. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/29 "2019-07-08T17:46:11Z")
Why has nobody mentioned that it is a trick question? That the fee is in cents and the target amount is dollars so it’s very easy to miss the extra factor of a hundred? Given a better scenario to dress it up, it might be worthwhile as a bar bet. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/30 "2019-07-08T18:41:35Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > Why has nobody mentioned that it is a trick question? That the fee is in cents and the target amount is dollars so it’s very easy to miss the extra factor of a hundred? Given a better scenario to dress it up, it might be worthwhile as a bar bet. After looking at the original posts, I’m kinda suspecting that it already is a bar bet. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/31 "2019-07-09T11:37:39Z")
The Tooth Fairy has a money-losing business model that is, fortunately for her, limited by the rarity of teeth under pillows. The “friend” here has no such limitation. The costs in ledgers alone will be astronomical. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644/32 "2019-07-09T17:46:55Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > Given a better scenario to dress it up, it might be worthwhile as a bar bet. Or a [YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANDk0SWzplo) of a phone conversation with Verizon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-question/836644.md?page=1)