A bat and ball cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Asked by
ETpro (
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October 18th, 2011
If you said $1.00, you need to read ’‘The Science of Irrationality’’. If you said $1.05, read it anyway. It will make interesting reading, and knowing how many of America’s top university students miss that seemingly simple question will make your day.
It’s a WSJ article available online to nonsubscribers for 7 days from the 17th of October. As a subscriber, I recommend joining of you wish to read it at a later date.
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60 Answers
Eh, I understand it, but don’t really get it XD
Is it that some people insist on the wrong answer for some reason?
Alo, that’s really cheap stuff.
Lol, thanks for making us all feel stupid now…geez.
Is this before or after tax? That would change everything! lol
I got it right!! I’ll still check out your link though.
If a goose weighs on average 12 lbs. and consumes ¾ of a cup of feed a day, and you have 2 geese, that weigh a combined weight of 20 lbs. how long will a 50 lb. sack of feed last?
How big is your cup (the feeding cup, that is)?
@rebbel
Haha, I’m being silly, but, the cup would be a liquid measuring cup, not a dry measuring cup. ;-)
I said $1.55. Is there something wrong with me?
The ball costs 5 cents as the bat is more expensive. My first thoughts were $1:00 and 10 cents but this doesn’t work.
Where’s the nearest IQ test around here?
$1.01 for the bat.
EDIT: And how do we discern the ball cost 0.05 from this? Math is not my best subject.
If a man and a half can dig a hole and a half in an hour and a half, how long will it take them to reach the antipodes?
There are 6.25 penguins at the beach, how many are left if two go South and the rest take up underwater basket weaving?
I think that it is very clear that it doesn’t matter how good you are at math when answering this question. I am horrible at math. It’s humiliating how bad at math I am. However, someone asked me this question a few months ago… and again today, and I got the answer right. Somehow my brain immediately recognizes that ”$1.00” doesn’t logically work, but if you ask me to explain why.. it takes me a minute to figure it out. Honestly, I originally attributed that to my poor math skills. I just figure that I overanalyze even a “simple” math problem, and when doing it backwards I realize that it doesn’t work. Maybe that is why.
I haven’t checked the link but is it $0.09?
Okay just got it.
@ETpro okay but what if that ball really costs 10 cents and the bat 1 buck?
Not to mention we can always go for other answers :)
The ball can be 4 cents and the bat 1.04 .. I’m pretty confident you won’t see the 2 cents as change so basically it costs 1.10 anyway :)
The real question is: where can I find a baseball bat for $1.05 and a ball for just 5 cents? Sports for Ants Superstore?
Why is 10 cents not the answer?
We are talking about the ball rather than the bat, right?
Math and I have always been at odds with each other :)
@Buttonstc because if the ball costs 10c, and the bat is $1.00 more than the ball… that would mean that the bat alone is $1.10, making the final cost $1.20.
I’m positive there is an actual formula, but that is the way it makes sense to me.
Okay I understand why it’s not 10 cents because the bat is an entire dollar more than the amount of the ball. Which means it has to be more than a dollar. The ball costs something at least and the bat must be a dollar over that amount to total $1.10.
I don’t get the arbitrary amount of $0.05 though for the price of the ball. Couldn’t the ball cost anything from $0.01 to $0.09?
You’re really supposed to use Algebra for this, but if you start out randomly guessing figures you’ll eventually get there.
If a hippopatumous lost a tooth, where would the ancient Egytians build there next pyramid?
@Jellie If the ball costs $0.01, the bat will cost $1:01 and so together the bat and ball will not cost $1:10 but $1:02. The way I read the question the bat costs exactly $1:00 more than the ball and not at least $1:00 more.
@flutherother oh oh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wait it all just clicked in place. Thanks. Elementary!
Yes it has to be exactly a dollar more so it can only be $0.05.
@flutherother Ahhh, thank you for that! I had a feeling I was thinking it wrong somehow. That explanation makes sense now!
If @Coloma weighs 133 lbs. and the distance from her computer in the living room to the shower is apprx. 26 feet what color are her towels?
White. That way she can bleach them after she wipes geese feet with them
x + (x+1.00) = $1.10
x+ $1.00 = $1.10 – x
x = .5
Thank you for that @Kayak8. Now I can see it makes sense.
@ETpro
You HAD to know this would take on a life of it’s own! haha
If @ETpro posted this question 2 hours ago, and does not return for 4 hours, how many answers will there be?
If @erichw1504 weighs 286 lbs. and the distance from his office to his ‘95 Honda Accord is approx. 0.34 miles, what size is his lunch box?
Pretty big if he weighs 286 lbs. Okay I’ll stop.
Am I the only person wondering why @Kayak moved one of the x’s to the other side of the equal sign?
x + (x+$1.00) = $1.10
2x = $1.10 – $1.00
x = $0.05
The ball is $.05, the bat is $1.05. Cool article.
Do >50% of MIT students really get this wrong? Why the hell didn’t they accept me?
@erichw1504 That poor .25 of a penguin. It must feel so… incomplete.
Bat + Ball = 1.10
Bat – Ball = 1.00
2*Bat = 2.10
Bat = 1.05
I said $1.05. Now where is my cookie?
@Mamradpivo Wasn’t it a bit of an ego boost to know you beat over half of Harvard, Yale and MIT’s student body? :-)
@erichw1504 There’s a place for you in marketing. :-)
@SpatzieLover @robmandu posted a good formula to solve it mwith 1st year algebra. But if you stop and think about it, you can figure it out by testing possible numbers in your mind. You don’t really need any algebra skill. @ratboy posted a solution like that just thinks it through.
@blueiiznhWay to go. Definite MIT material.
@Coloma I can say with certainty that in 10 hours there were 45.
@blueiiznh
@ETpro PSHT! I used to work in the MIT campus area, you can have them
Now where is my cookie?!?!
@blueiiznh Mixing the batter and warming the oven now. How much of this do you want in it?
@Kayak8, ah, in that case your process – which apparently includes the vitalizing effects of alcohol – is certainly far superior to my own meager algebraic offering. And so now I shall tap into the Crown Royal in my desk drawer in order that I may join you. Cheers to you and all my inebriated friends!
You know what else costs 5 cents?
Nothing.
@erichw1504 I don’t have tim to link to that willy wonka song right now.
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