A merchant offers a large group of items at $30\%$ off. Later, the merchant takes $20\%$ off these sale prices and claims that the final price of these items is $50\%$ off the original price. As a percentage of the original price, what is the difference between the true discount and the merchant's claimed discount

The difference between the true discount and the merchant's claimed discount is that the true discount is 44% which is a 6% discount difference with the merchant's claimed discount of 50%.

Explanation:

If the merchant offers a 30% discount on products and then, offers a 20% discount from the price with the 30% discount that is not a 50% discount from the initial price as it would be a 44% discount. This because when the 30% discount is applied, customers will pay the 70% of the price and when the 20% discount is applied over this price, customers would be paying the 56% of the price:

70*0.2= 14

70-14= 56

This means that customers would be getting a 44% discount because:

100-56= 44

According to this, the difference between the true discount and the merchant's claimed discount is that the true discount is 44% which is a 6% discount difference with the merchant's claimed discount of 50%.

answer; ( prices are sticky);

so they can see what that city is producing and to also see if they can some how get that product. like gold in africa.