So, how much money did the store actually lose?
Give this some thought for a minute. Most people miss the boat completely on this puzzle because they try to treat the robbery and the shopping incident as two entirely different scenarios, when in reality all that needs to be done is follow the path of the money!
The real answer? The store lost exactly $100.
This is one of the simplest ways of looking at it if broken down into simple steps:
In the beginning, the store has both all of its stock and its money. Then comes the customer who steals $100 from the till. What has happened? The store has now been robbed of $100.
But that’s where everybody begins thinking too much about the problem.
Eventually, the criminal returns and spends that very same stolen hundred-dollar bill to buy seventy dollars’ worth of goods. Many individuals tend
