A lot of people are having trouble with this math problem that requires some basic algebra
This is interesting and also shows you how basic skills need to be retained for life, and exercised somewhat. The fact we went from 80 percent to 60 shows our glorious education system is not working.
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the current system and I know I'm leaving stuff out is national debt is the sum total of all the T Bills of various varieties whee the government is the banker. and various other parking places. One is funded by savings and wealth in excess of current need. and loans for major items such as houses and by spending where a single tax occured. one time. and that with a single deduction variously called the Right To Life Exemption. The major difference was income tax was confiscatory and end user consumtion minus RTLE was voluntary.
At that point in time the what was it called Fair Tax was computed at 30% to cover current government needs and obligatory payoffs such as military retirement and social security.
It also relied on a real debt limit. Short of war and natural disaster - no phony declared emergencies - government could not go in debt and whatever could not be funded with current income flow was not done. Be it war, freeways, rapid transit, welfare etc. With the amount of obligated and unfunded programs now on the table it might be as much as fifty percent? I don't really know I'm doing a SWAG. Unless the debt was repudiated which is exactly what they did in 2008 and will do this next time around. So that's going to happen anyway.
The main difference is control. One the citizens and their spending habits controlled government and in the other Government and it's spending habits controlled everything.
Actually with income tax you get screwed every day of every year as taxes are embedded any time something is sold, bought, pay checks issued. It' all adds up until the final purchase of some goods or services. Then it comes due if not collected and transmitted along the way. Sales Tax. That's the Commie Mommie's favored VAT Tax. which subtracts value - iyou have to pay more to get the same thing.
One is based ont the assumption the government owns everything and allows the citizens to earn a taxable portion called wages. The other is based on the assumption the citizens own everything and agree to pay a set percentage mnus the /Right to Life exemption to fund certain government programs.
Two refinements are the No Funding No Mandate rule where government says all sewer systems must be replaced every 50 years and upgraded every ten but doesn't fund the requirement there fore it's not mandatory. OR funds it and it is mandatory.
The second refinement is all spenidng bills must have the following ont he cover sheet and adhere to what is found there. Name, Description and Scope,. Constitutional cite that allows such an expenditure, Funding Source and funding limit.
I guess a third refinement is No earmarks or anything not related to the story ont he cover sheet allowed as Christmas Tree add ons but in any case the whole pig trough is automatically under the No Funding No Mandate provision and the percentage of allowed end user consumption tax. Getting to long and I'm sure I forgot some important parts.
I liked the citizen controlling by what he/she spends AND the anti pig trough/no funding no mandate provisions. Some of those were retirement funds, personal health insurance funds which added to the RTL exemption and some other odds and ends. Ahh yes the payoff and phase out of current entitlements.
Inthe end it's all a sales tax anyway but paid for with after taxed (income) and added taxed (sales and VAT) collection methods.
In modern terms. The store clerk is handed a purchase at $21.95 two tens and a five. Sales tax is 7%. The cash register is broken.
How long does it take to figure out the bill and make change of one dollar fifty cents and one penny.
1.51.
Best answer. I'll have to ask my teacher about that when I start Senior Year next fall.
Not to be Pedantic and really don't want the useless penny but....you know how we nickle dime Nazi's are.
The second part is - since the cash register is broken except for opening the drawer.....
write it on a piece of paper.
Item desciption and price
$25 minus (21.99 x 1.07 = 23.5293. rounded up to the next highest penny. 23.54) = 1.46
Easy way?
21.99 round to 22. 2 x 70 plus 70+ 14 cents = 23.54 change is 1.46
Two ways That second method used the Mark 1 Mod 1 brain. No waiting until September.
It struck me we all have those little speed tricks squirreled away. Any additions? for practice I figure the bill at the supermarket. Keeps the brain cells limber.
[snark]
What is it that you engineered? Pinto gas tanks? Chernobyl control systems? Modern math education curricula?
[/snark]
We covered all of what was necessary for solving the proffered problem in freshman high school math class. And it is all symbols, not words.
Care to engineer something practical with words? A family is driving their car to visit Disneyland and coming home after several days. Their home is right near to the Applebee’s in Goodyear, Arizona, so it’s 350 miles each way. If they expect the gas cost in Arizona and California to average $2.50 per gallon and their vehicle gets 35 miles per gallon, how much will the gas cost for the trip?
I kept the numbers simple enough (though totally realistic) to not need a calculator to work it out. If you can’t solve that in five minutes or less, don’t make any engineering claims. Answer hint: Ulysses S. Grant.
How about this one from a story called Escape! in Asimov’s I, Robot book?
If one and a half chickens lay one and a half eggs in one and a half days, how many eggs do nine chickens lay in nine days?
I could show (clearly) how to answer that one in under a minute on an old school blackboard or a modern dry-erase white board. Your thoughts about this one? Okay, setting it up the first time is what makes this difficult.
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