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Author Topic: How would you do this math?  (Read 3231 times)

UristMcDwarf

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How would you do this math?
« on: September 05, 2013, 02:43:14 pm »

According to the DnD3.5 rulebook, a 10-pound, pure gold idol is worth 700 gold coins.
10 pounds of gold is about $100,000 USD.
How much USD is a gold piece?
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Vector

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2013, 02:47:17 pm »

USD/gold piece = #USD/10 pounds gold * 10 pounds gold/700 GP

=> 100,000/700 = 1,000/7 == $142.86/GP.

But you aren't taking workmanship into account and other things that would make the gold statue worth more than its weight, as it were.
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shadenight123

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2013, 02:48:04 pm »

700 gold coins = 100.000 USD

1 gold coin equals 100.000/700
1 gc= 1000/7 dollars
1 gold coin = 142.857142857 Dollars

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Edit:

The gold piece is generally considered to be a coin, though ingots or trade bars made of gold or other materials may be worth multiple gold pieces. In coin form, it is generally described as “approximately the size and weight of a United States half-dollar coin” meaning 30.6mm in diameter and weighing 11.5 grams (approximately 40 to a pound). In “Basic” D&D (and previous editions) and First Edition AD&D, despite the described weight, gold pieces are considered to weigh a tenth of a pound (1.6 standard ounces) each for encumbrance purposes, with 10 gp weighing one pound. Indeed, in these editions of the game, the basic unit of weight/encumbrance is either the “coin” (cn in Basic D&D)[1] or the “Gold Piece Weight” (gpw), either of which equals one tenth of a pound.

Starting in Second Edition AD&D and continuing through Third and Fourth Editions, gold pieces are considered to weigh approximately a third of a standard ounce (9 grams) each, which equal about fifty gp to a pound, while maintaining the size equal.
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UristMcDwarf

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2013, 02:52:18 pm »

USD/gold piece = #USD/10 pounds gold * 10 pounds gold/700 GP

=> 100,000/700 = 1,000/7 == $142.86/GP.

But you aren't taking workmanship into account and other things that would make the gold statue worth more than its weight, as it were.

How much is a 10-pound gold statue then? If you knew how much a 10-pound stone statue was worth, you could substitute the worth of stone with that of gold.

I dunno though.
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Vector

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2013, 02:53:46 pm »

How much is a 10-pound gold statue then? If you knew how much a 10-pound stone statue was worth, you could substitute the worth of stone with that of gold.

Working with stone is a fundamentally different process from working with gold though, haha.  You can cast gold, but you have to carve stone.
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UristMcDwarf

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2013, 02:59:04 pm »

How much is a 10-pound gold statue then? If you knew how much a 10-pound stone statue was worth, you could substitute the worth of stone with that of gold.

Working with stone is a fundamentally different process from working with gold though, haha.  You can cast gold, but you have to carve stone.

And so, we come full circle.
How much is a 10 pound gold statue worth?
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LordSlowpoke

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2013, 03:16:48 pm »

How much is a 10-pound gold statue then? If you knew how much a 10-pound stone statue was worth, you could substitute the worth of stone with that of gold.

Working with stone is a fundamentally different process from working with gold though, haha.  You can cast gold, but you have to carve stone.

And so, we come full circle.
How much is a 10 pound gold statue worth?

Take the value of gold involved and apply such modifiers as the quality of the work, adherance of its style to current trends (or is it antique, or considered last-season?), the people creating it in the first place... Since you're already economancing, take the base price and run it through the local gold supply compared to neighboring areas machine and adjust for regional inflation. Should I continue? There's not much more I can say without knowing your lore and statue in-depth.
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shadenight123

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2013, 04:33:28 pm »

ah, that's simple.
Read my edit at this point:
 

Starting in Second Edition AD&D and continuing through Third and Fourth Editions, gold pieces are considered to weigh approximately a third of a standard ounce (9 grams) each, which equal about fifty gp to a pound, while maintaining the size equal.

Since it's a 10 pound statue, it means it's 500 GP worth of gold AND 200GP worth of artistic work on it.
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“Well,” he said. “We’re in the Forgotten hunting grounds I take it. Your screams just woke them up early. Congratulations, Lyara.”
“Do something!” she whispered, trying to keep her sight on all of them at once.
Basileus clapped his hands once. The Forgotten took a step forward, attracted by the sound.
“There, I did something. I clapped. I like clapping,” he said. -The Investigator And The Case Of The Missing Brain.

Jimmy

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2013, 04:49:23 pm »

Since we're using 3.5e rules:

50 gp = 1 lb

And as you stated our conversion to current values is the following:

10 lb = $100,000

Then the following would be true:

50 gp = $100,000 per ten pounds divided by ten
50 gp = $10,000
1 gp = $10,000 / 50
1 gp = $200

So a standard 3.5e gold coin is worth about $200USD by weight alone.

The idol, however, is worth 700 gp due to additional factors like workmanship etc. the 10 lb weight of gold comprises 500 gp of the value, and 200 gp is due to additional factors.

Thus the idol would be worth about $140,000USD as a whole, or $100,000 if melted and sold by weight.
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UristMcDwarf

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #9 on: September 05, 2013, 05:58:16 pm »

Since we're using 3.5e rules:

50 gp = 1 lb

And as you stated our conversion to current values is the following:

10 lb = $100,000

Then the following would be true:

50 gp = $100,000 per ten pounds divided by ten
50 gp = $10,000
1 gp = $10,000 / 50
1 gp = $200

So a standard 3.5e gold coin is worth about $200USD by weight alone.

The idol, however, is worth 700 gp due to additional factors like workmanship etc. the 10 lb weight of gold comprises 500 gp of the value, and 200 gp is due to additional factors.

Thus the idol would be worth about $140,000USD as a whole, or $100,000 if melted and sold by weight.


aaaand, the total value of the GP is? o:
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Bauglir

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #10 on: September 05, 2013, 06:12:31 pm »

700, that was the information you gave us in the OP. The statue is worth 700 gp.
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“What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe” Sussman replied. “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play”, Sussman said.
Minsky then shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher.
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At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

UristMcDwarf

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #11 on: September 05, 2013, 06:36:40 pm »

700, that was the information you gave us in the OP. The statue is worth 700 gp.

but how much usd is the GP?
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Bauglir

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #12 on: September 05, 2013, 06:58:01 pm »

Oh! There's no reasonable answer to that question. Assuming GP are valued only for their gold content and that this is of approximately the same value in D&D-land as on Earth, a gold piece is worth about $437.86, and the statue is worth $218,930 for its gold content alone. However, note that similar arithmetic suggests that a loaf of bread, at 2 cp, is worth about $8.76 in gold pieces and $.12 in copper pieces, so we can clearly conclude that there is no sensible conversion rate.

EDIT: Bear in mind, this is based on the known rate of 50 coins to the pound.

Short version: Gold in Fantasyland is absurdly cheap.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2013, 07:02:30 pm by Bauglir »
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In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.
“What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe” Sussman replied. “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play”, Sussman said.
Minsky then shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher.
“So that the room will be empty.”
At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

UristMcDwarf

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #13 on: September 05, 2013, 07:04:17 pm »

Oh! There's no reasonable answer to that question. Assuming GP are valued only for their gold content and that this is of approximately the same value in D&D-land as on Earth, a gold piece is worth about $437.86, and the statue is worth $218,930 for its gold content alone. However, note that similar arithmetic suggests that a loaf of bread, at 2 cp, is worth about $8.76 in gold pieces and $.12 in copper pieces, so we can clearly conclude that there is no sensible conversion rate.

EDIT: Bear in mind, this is based on the known rate of 50 coins to the pound.

Short version: Gold in Fantasyland is absurdly cheap.

I feared so. Thanks anyway.
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kaenneth

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Re: How would you do this math?
« Reply #14 on: September 05, 2013, 07:44:36 pm »

Is a copper piece the same size as a gold piece?

And I would guess Gold would be a bit less valued; since there are so many people magically creating it when they get wish's, etc. Everyone wishes for a million Gold, never a million Copper.
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