potato paradox

noun

A calculation having a counterintuitive result: "Fred brings home 100 kg of potatoes, which consist of 99% water. He then leaves them outside overnight so that they consist of 98% water. What is their new weight?" The surprising answer is 50 kg.

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Meanings

nounpotato paradox (plural potato paradoxes)

plural potato paradoxes

  1. mathematicsA calculation having a counterintuitive result: "Fred brings home 100 kg of potatoes, which consist of 99% water. He then leaves them outside overnight so that they consist of 98% water. What is their new weight?" The surprising answer is 50 kg.
  2. economicsThe paradoxical nature of Giffen goods, where people consume more as the price rises.

Origin

(economics): In reference to the 1845 Irish famine, when potatoes became expensive. It has been argued that poorer families, who habitually ate more potatoes, ended up having to consume even more of them, since the higher prices made it even harder to afford any other goods.

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Cite this entry
APA

potato paradox. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/potato%20paradox

MLA

“potato paradox.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/potato%20paradox. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “potato paradox,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/potato%20paradox.

Source: potato paradox on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.