Easter Eggs, Inc
For the past five years, Mr. E. Bunny has marketed his decorative eggs in baskets of 10. The eggs in each basket are dyed five solid colors, with at least one egg of each color. Each color of dye costs him a different amount in whole numbers of dollars per ounce. From cheapest to most expensive, they are blue, green, orange, pink, and yellow.
1. Mr. Bunny buys a fresh batch of dye every April (it deteriorates in storage).
2. He sells the same number of eggs every year.
3. Each dye colors the same number of eggs per ounce.
4. Over the last five years, he has used the same total quantity of each color.
5. During each year he distributes the colors in every basket identically, although not necessarily the same as in previous years.
6. The cost of every dye color rises a dollar per ounce every year. For instance, blue dye originally cost $1/ounce; now it’s $5/ounce.
7. All of Mr. Bunny’s other costs have remained the same since he began.
8. Despite the rise in the cost of dyes, Bunny has never raised the price to his customers, and has kept his profit per basket exactly the same.
How much does an ounce of each dye currently cost? And how were the colors distributed in the baskets during each of the past five years?
Published in GAMES, July 2007