Buying and selling the same thing again
A child buys something, sells it, then buys it back and sells it again, two or three times. A table sets out each trade: who it was bought from, what was paid, who it was sold to and for how much. The student says whether it all came to a profit or a loss, and how much. In a quarter of the questions the last selling price is missing instead, and the overall profit or loss is given to work back from.
The trap is the buy-back. Paying more to get the thing back feels like losing money, but each trade is its own profit or loss. The working takes them one at a time, then sets the profits against the losses.
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What changes each time
- 2 or 3 trades, in whole dollars from $3 to $82
- About a third end in a loss, often with profits and losses mixed
- Find the overall profit or loss, or the missing selling price
More money and profit practice
- Counting coins (Grade 2)
- Profit or loss (Grade 2)
- Making change from the coins you have (Grade 3)
- Keeping a running total of money (Grade 3)
- Profit and loss from a table (Grade 4)
- Best price after discount (Grade 4)
- Buying and selling problems (Grade 5)
- Selling price to reach a target (Grade 6)