GingerAle

Yes Tomm, it is a terrible answer. Why did you post it? 

Yes. Well he obviously has troll DNA. He reminds me of someone I knew very well when I was his age –meself.

I’ll answer anyway ...

Tommarvoloriddle doen’t present as an intellectual pig –not so far, anyway.

As for being a moron, he’s the right age for it, so he gets a free pass.  Leaving behind moronic thought processes, and learning how to think logically and analytically is a gradual process.  

Teaching these critical thinking skills is time consuming, but the investment of time is well worth it, because the juvenile brain will literally grow and develop around these skills. For children with average intelligence, these skills will put them at the head of their class. For children with augmented intelligence, this will eventually put them in the 90^th percentile of testable academic intelligence. 

 Tomm has a bloody long way to go, but these skills will speed up his trip. 

GA

Just asking –my ass! I know it’s you JB. 

BECAUSE I wanted you to figure it out yourself! I don’t mind pealing and cutting bananas for you, but you are a big boy now, so you need to learn how to chew them all by yourself.

Yes, I could have posted a single sentence –in five languages, including Latin. Would you have understood it? Would you then have an instant understanding of how to translate words into mathematics?

GA

For a specific answer, you need to present one or more equations in the context of your question.

Generally, for continuous, linear function equations the domain and range will be all real numbers, except when the denominator becomes zero (0).

No! I’m not saying that. Your hypothetical is inconsistent with the data points in the question.

My critique focuses on the meaning of the word “above”as used in the context of this question.

The solution equation for “of” is (1600 x 3)-800 = 4000 dollars.

The solution equation for “above” is (1600 x 4)-800 =5600 dollars. This should be the correct solution. The word “above” is in the question. The word “of” is not.  This is what guest was attempting to demonstrate when he asked the pointed question.  It should be clear that $1600 is not above $1600.  This being true means the solution included with the origional question is wrong.

GA

This question, as presented, has two (2) syntax errors:

During a holiday month a retail store brings in 300% above it's average sales in other months. If a typical month has $1600 in sales, and has fixed cost of $800 per month. What is the profit for a holiday month? 

... A missing comma, and a wrong word (“it’s”) in the first sentence, and a sentence fragment in the second sentence.

Correcting these errors, the sentence reads:

During a holiday month, a retail store brings in 300% above its average sales in other months. If a typical month has $1600 in sales, and has fixed cost of $800 per month, what is the profit for a holiday month? 

Word problems often have ambiguity in them, but this question is clear (to me).

As the question is asked, the solution presented (1600 x 3)-800=4,000 is wrong. The reason it’s wrong is the word “above” is in the phrase “a retail store brings in 300% above its average sales in other months.”

If the quest read:

“During a holiday month, a retail store brings in 300% of its average sales in other months.” Then the asker’s solution would be correct and so would your answer to guest’s question.  This was the point of guest’s question.

Your answer to guest’s question clearly indicates the result is equal to the average, not above the average as indicated in the question. (Note that this is the earnings, not the profit as requested by the question.)

Tommarvoloriddle, where does the 50% come from? Usually when you use a numeric value indicating a probability, there should be a mathematical basis for it.  This is doable for non-tangible concepts, such as feelings, but this requires evaluative experience with similar problems.   

For example, if you have previously evaluated (N) of these types of problems, and the tabulations of the accuracy your assessments indicate that you are correct 50% of the time, then your 50% certainty is valid.  However, your final statement says you have “never done these types of problems before ....”  Knowing this, your confidence should be very close to zero (0) instead of the 50% you indicated. 

Over time, intuition (feelings) will form as you continue to develop your skills in mathematics. Intuition is a very common thought process in all skilled, Master and PhD-Level mathematicians and scientists. However, such intuition is never an acceptable substitute for a demonstrative proof of concept.      

Offering opinions without the minimum required skill sets in the subject puts you in to the BS class. The world is full of amateur and professional BSers in and on every subject.  We do not need anymore! Until you develop these skills, you should keep your comments at inquiring observer level.