Alexander, Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday

Carlos Torres 

Blog Post 3

1. Alexander, Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday is a short story that tells of a young boy named Alexander, who thought he was rich after his grandparents gave him some money after coming over to visit. His family encourages him to save his money. They tell him that if he does save his money then one day he will be able to buy himself a radio, but the temptation to buy other things overwhelms him. After making various unnecessary purchases, he runs out of money, and his family tells him that he would need to go out on a cage every time he went out due to his poor money management skills. After a while he tries to regain some of the money he lost but is unsuccessful, he tries to sell some of his teeth and then he tries to look for money on phone booths. He also tries selling things, but these are unsuccessful as well. Alexander finishes broke, with only a handful of unnecessary purchases to his name and a couple of bus tokens. 

2. I think that this story in particular expresses the mathematical concept of Profit/Revenue. Alexander forgot about the basic principles of being profitable. In order for him to have stayed "rich" he should have focused on gaining more revenue and cutting cost as much as possible. If Alexander would have focused on this, then maybe he would have even turned a profit after trying to sell other things, such as things he no longer found useful. 

3. I think that this story exemplifies how one should always be careful on how to manage his/her money.  It helps us visualise in a clear and concise way the concept of profit/revenue and helps us avoid making the same mistakes Alexander made.