Using The Mathematical Clue
What was that clue?
Since when divided into 2 unequal numbers difference won't be 0. Let x and y be the 2 unequal numbers.
As per merchant,
32 (x - y) = x^2 - y^2
32 (x - y) = (x - y) (x + y)
Dividing both sides by (x - y) which is non zero as x is not equal to y,
32 = x + y
x + y = 32.
Let's verify with x = 30 and y = 2. So 32 (x - y) = 32 ( 30 - 2) = 896. And x^2 - y^2 = 30^2 - 2^2 = 900 - 4 = 896.
Hence, Merchant had 32 coins in total.
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