In the last few days someone asked if it is possible to start a business without much knowledge of math. They could hire an accountant to deal with the math, but it is interesting how even relatively simple problems require some knowledge of algebra,

Consider the following problem. You want to sell some stock to cover $30,000 of expenses. Suppose that the tax rule for capital gains is to pay 20% on everything over $10,000. How much stock would you have to sell to cover the $30,000 plus capital gains tax?

Do you see how to set up an algebraic equation to solve this? Is there any conceivable way of solving this without algebra?