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Twenty Percent Off, Then Ten Percent Up (illustration)
FILE No.74Unsolved

Twenty Percent Off, Then Ten Percent Up

Difficulty ★☆☆about 3 minEveryday MysteryPercentagesCalculation trap
A shopkeeper takes 20% off a vase, then adds 10% the next day. Is the price higher, lower or the same?

Case Record

An antiques dealer put a $100 vase on sale at "20% off". When it did not sell, the next day he raised the price tag by 10% from that sale price.

He tells customers, "I took 20% off and added 10%, so it's 10% cheaper than before." One customer who called the police thinks something is off.

Your question

How does the final price compare to the original $100?

Case Files

Evidence

Diagram

In dollarsStepPriceOriginal$100After 20% off$80After +10%$88$12 (12%) below the original.
Diagram

Timeline

  1. Priced at 20% off.
  2. Tag raised by 10%.

Hints

If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.

Open hint 1

What is the price after the discount?

Open hint 2

10% of what number is the increase?

Open hint 3

Compare the final price with $100.

Solve It

Your question

How does the final price compare to the original $100?

Choose the answer closest to the truth.

Share: I'm solving this

The Truth

12% cheaper

The answer is: 12% cheaper.

20% off: $100 x 0.8 = $80. Then 10% more: $80 x 1.1 = $88. That is $12 (12%) less than $100.

The 10% increase is taken from $80 (the sale price), which is $8, not from the original $100 (which would be $10).

Each percentage has its own base20% off: 20% of $100 = $2010% up: 10% of $80 = $8Total: -$20 + $8 = -$12
Diagram of the solution

Key Points

  • Always ask what a percentage is "of"
  • Work out the real dollar amount at each step
  • Compare with the original

Why people get fooled

People do -20% + 10% = -10%.

Similar tricks

  • The dollars-first type
  • The base-of-the-percentage type

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