The inhabitants of a small island export a cloth made from a plant that grows only on their island. A clothier from New York, believing that he can save money by "cutting out the middleman," decides to travel to the island and buy the cloth himself. Ignorant of the local custom where strangers are offered outrageous prices initially, the clothier accepts (much to everyone's surprise) the initial price of 400 tepizes/m^2. The price of this cloth in New York is 120 dollars/yard^2. Calculate the loss incurred If the clothier bought 500 m^2 of cloth, how much money did he lose? Use 1 tepiz=0.625 dollar and 0.9144 m=1 yard.

Question

The inhabitants of a small island export a cloth made from a plant that grows only on their island. A clothier from New York, believing that he can save money by "cutting out the middleman," decides to travel to the island and buy the cloth himself. Ignorant of the local custom where strangers are offered outrageous prices initially, the clothier accepts (much to everyone's surprise) the initial price of 400 tepizes/m^2. The price of this cloth in New York is 120 dollars/yard^2. Calculate the loss incurred If the clothier bought 500 m^2 of cloth, how much money did he lose? Use 1 tepiz=0.625 dollar and 0.9144 m=1 yard.

This how I solve but lost. What got does look right. (500m^2)*(400tepizea/m^2)*(1/.625dollar)*(1yd^2 /(.9144m)^2)=149498.7

Answer 1

400t/m^2 * .625$/t * (1yd/.9144m)^2 = 300 $/yd^2

so, for 500yd^2, he lost 500(300-120) = $90,000

seems like a lot, but it makes sense, since 400t = $240 and 1m^2 is just about the same as 1yd^2, so he'd lose about $160 per yd^2 * 500 = 80,000

you should have multiplied by 0.625 $/tep to convert tep to $