SOLUTION: Tim owns a hardware store and sells metal and plastic pipe. The retail price is fixed at 40% above wholesale cost. Tim learns the meter stick is not accurate, and he is only makin

Algebra ->  Customizable Word Problem Solvers  -> Misc -> SOLUTION: Tim owns a hardware store and sells metal and plastic pipe. The retail price is fixed at 40% above wholesale cost. Tim learns the meter stick is not accurate, and he is only makin      Log On

Ad: Over 600 Algebra Word Problems at edhelper.com


    

Question 1142589: Tim owns a hardware store and sells metal and plastic pipe. The retail price is fixed at 40% above wholesale cost. Tim learns the meter stick is not accurate, and he is only making 39%.
He only uses the stick to sell pipe. The amount he buys is correct.

Find length of the stick.
L = stick length.
Unsure how to solve. Non-homework.
Answer by greenestamps(13206) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


He thinks he is selling the pipe for 140% of his wholesale cost, but he is only selling it for 139% of the wholesale cost, because the meter stick is not accurate. So he is selling the pipe for 139/140 of what he thinks he is selling it for.

That means the meter stick is TOO LONG by a factor of 140/139.

So the meter stick is actually 140/139 meters long.

------------------------------------------------------------

140/139 = 1.00719 to 5 decimal places

So the stick is too long by about 0.00719 meters, or 7.19 mm.