Algebra and Shopping

Who said high school math wouldn’t come in handy?

In Germany, the price you see listed includes the 19% tax.  There are times when we don’t have to pay the tax and so, for big ticket items, we try to figure what the price would be without sales tax.

Jon’s method was to multiply the total price (T) by.19 and then subtract it to get the pre-taxed price (x).

T -.19T=x  or simplified, .81T=x

This is NOT the way to do it.

Why?  Because the 19% tax is figured from the pre-taxed/original price (x).  So, the right way to do it is…

x+.19x=T  or simplified, x=T/1.19

Confused?  Let’s look at an example.  Let’s say we want to buy a sofa.  The price tag says 430 euro.  So, T=430.  We don’t have to pay tax and want to know how much the pre-taxed pirce (x) is.

Jon’s way:                                           My way:

.81T=x                                                x=T/1.19 

.81(430)=x                                        x=(430)/1.19  

348.30=x                                           x=361.34 

As you can see, Jon’s way will give you a nasty surprise at the checkout.  You’ll end up paying more than you were counting on.

Finally, my five years of calculus and year-and-a-half tutoring high school algebra can be put to good, practical use. 

 

Willy wants winter

The weather is starting to turn nice again.  Flowers are starting to bloom and winter seems to be firmly behind us.  I am very happy about that.

We’re not so sure about Willy.  Perhaps in an effort to bring back the cold weather, he climbed into the fridge.  Yes, he squirmed out of my arms and into a shelf in the refrigerator.   

As we’ve said many tiimes before, Willy’s strange.

 

Fasnetsumzug

Yesterday was the BIG parade in Weil der Stadt to end the Fasnet season with a bang. 

Check out the pictures…   http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/goldmara

 

Snow!!

It finally snowed.  And not just a little dusting.  A massive dump of nearly a foot! 

 

New Year’s Eve

New’s Year Eve can be described in one word…surreal.

Germany doesn’t do city sponsored fireworks at midnight, everyone just does their own.  And I do mean everyone.  And not just little one either.  The entire sky, in every direction, was flashing with gold, green and red bursts of light.  There were a few tense moments were we actually wondered if we were being bombed.  And then we saw our neighbors joining in the commotion.

Yes, it was surreal. 

 

Christmas

It was a “green” Christmas here.  The ground was frozen solid under the frost, but still no snow.  We exchanged cookies with our neighbors and in one case, a giant pretzel.

We bought a new pre-lit tree for the European voltage. Little did we know that the lights would have seven cords to plug in. We had to buy two power strips just to get them all plugged in. But it’s a nice tree and it was fun shop the area Christmas markets for new ornaments.

 

Fasnet

The Weil der Stadt carnival season began with the releasing of the witch.  Actually, I’m not exactly sure what happened, but the parade and ceremony was a lot of fun.  The witch climbing from the box is, I believe, supposed to represent the beginning of winter and/or the fifth season.

It all culminates just before Lent with a huge party.  Think Mardi Gras in Europe minus the spring break kids.  And from what I understand, an effigy of the witch is burned at the end.  Ah, those good ol’ Catholic towns.

Anyway, some shots from the parade…

The procession begins.

The Council or Mayors or other such men in positions of authority.  The Grand Master gave a little speech in the town square at the end of the parade before the box was opened.  From the little bit I could understand, he was poking fun at people from the surrounding towns.

The young witch is released. The funny part is that after the ceremony, the witch took of her mask and it was a boy clearly unhappy about being in a dress. We figured one of the men on the float must have been his dad.

 

Halloween

Halloween was very quiet.  Eerily quiet.  We didn’t have a single trick-or-treater, but there was one other jack-o-lantern spotted a few houses down.  I dressed up anyway though and had lots of fun carving two great big pumpkins.

 

Willy helps.

Not really.  Willy might think he’s helping, personally I think he’s just begging for attention as usual, but he’s been doing his little part to make unpacking boxes more fun.

He’s played with the packing paper.  And then when I finally had it neatly folded and stacked, he decided it was a good place to hunker down and wait for Bishop to walk by so he could launch a surprise attack and scatter paper all over the place.

  

He’s also having fun jumping in and out of empty boxes. 

  

What can I say? Willy’s just easily amused.

 

I’m on sale, damn it!!

I came across this sign while shopping at Hornbuch Baumarkt, the German version of Home Depot. 

OK, so the sign really said “reduziert, raus damit”.  But I didn’t need my German dictionary to get the gist of this one.

Jon quickly gave me the ”official”translation: Price reduced, must go!  To me, though, it will always be “I’m on sale, damn it!”