Showing posts with label hancock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hancock. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

The Premier Pie Stall problem

In the Hancock episode The Chef That Died of Shame, Hancock's pie stall owner sells one customer a cup of tea and a ham roll for 7½d, and second one a cup of coffee and a pie for 10½d.

He then sells Bill Kerr's character an unknown number of pies (at least two), and a cup of coffee, for 2s 6d (half a crown).

So how many pies were sold in the last transaction?

Let c be the price of coffee and p the price of a pie, and n the number of pies.
2s 6d is 30 pence, so np+c=30
Additionally we know p+c=10.5
so, (30-(p+c))/p = n-1
ie, if coffee+pie is 10½d, the remaining pies cost 19½d, so n is whatever integer 19.5 can be divided by that yields a coffee price which is a plausible penny/halfpenny price and allows c+p to be 10.5.

The only answer that fits is 3 remaining pies, yielding a pie price of 6½d.

So the number of pies is 4.

All four pies cost 26d and the price of coffee must be 4d. Check, 4+6.5=10.5.

This fits with the price quoted in The Last Bus Home for a cup of tea in Fred's cafe - 3d. You'd expect coffee to be slightly more expensive than tea, and if tea at the Premier Pie Stall is also 3d, then the ham rolls cost 4½d, and again you'd expect a ham roll to cost less than a hot pie.