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You have the task of transporting 5000 toy cars to the kids in Matchbox town.
However, your semi can only hold 2500 toy cars, and you have to give up one toy car every two miles to a kid on the way there, but not on the way back.

How many toy cars can you get to Matchbox town?

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closed as off-topic by Rand al'Thor, IAmInPLS, Beastly Gerbil, Alconja, Wu33o Sep 8 '16 at 8:05

This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:

  • "This question is off-topic as it appears to be a mathematics problem, as opposed to a mathematical puzzle. For more info, see "Are math-textbook-style problems on topic?" on meta." – Rand al'Thor, IAmInPLS, Beastly Gerbil, Wu33o
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

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    $\begingroup$ How far away is "Matchbox town"? Or is the fact that this is unspecified part of the point of the puzzle? $\endgroup$ – Gareth McCaughan♦ Sep 7 '16 at 15:09
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    $\begingroup$ If Matchbox town is less than two miles away, you can transport 5000 toy cars to Matchbox town. If it is more than 5000 miles away, you can transport zero toy cars to Matchbox town. $\endgroup$ – Ian MacDonald Sep 7 '16 at 15:12
  • $\begingroup$ Assuming I can take as many trips as I want, I can take any number of cars there... unless it's more than 5000 miles away, at which point none will get there. $\endgroup$ – TwoBitOperation Sep 7 '16 at 15:14
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    $\begingroup$ Very similar puzzle: A camel transporting bananas. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Sep 7 '16 at 15:39
  • $\begingroup$ @GarethMcCaughan Sconibulus answered perfectly. I forgot to specify to give an equation since I did not say how far Matchbox town was. $\endgroup$ – baranskistad Sep 7 '16 at 17:05
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You want to consolidate the toys from 2 truckloads to 1 truckload as soon as possible.

This is after 2500 miles

So you end up delivering

2500 - (Distance to Matchbox Town - 2500)/2 assuming the Distance is >2500, and less than 7500.

Or

(2500-Distance to Town)/2 if the distance is <2500.

Or no toys at all, if the distance is greater than

7500

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