BLOCKCHAIN & WEB3 FUNDAMENTALS - Chapter 8, Exercise 1 Solution
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Classifying Four Real-World Items as Fungible or Non-Fungible

PROBLEM
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Classify each of the following as fungible or non-fungible, and
briefly justify each answer: a £5 note, a signed first-edition book, a
share of a publicly traded company, and a specific seat number for a
specific concert.

SOLUTION
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A £5 NOTE - FUNGIBLE
Any genuine £5 note is worth exactly the same as any other genuine £5
note. Nobody cares about the specific serial number when receiving one
as change - they're fully interchangeable in value and function,
matching this chapter's own physical-cash example.

A SIGNED FIRST-EDITION BOOK - NON-FUNGIBLE
This is a specific, unique physical object - a particular copy, with a
particular signature, particular condition, and particular provenance.
A different first-edition copy of the same book, even unsigned or in
different condition, is not interchangeable with this one - each copy
is genuinely distinct.

A SHARE OF A PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY - FUNGIBLE
One share of a given company's common stock is identical in rights and
value to any other share of that same class - an investor doesn't care
which specific share certificate number they end up holding, only how
many shares and of which company. This matches ERC-20's own fungible-
token model directly.

A SPECIFIC SEAT NUMBER FOR A SPECIFIC CONCERT - NON-FUNGIBLE
Seat 14, Row C for a specific show on a specific date and venue is a
distinct, unique thing - a ticket to a completely different seat, or a
different show entirely, isn't the same item even if it's nominally
"a concert ticket." The specificity (this seat, this date, this venue)
is exactly what makes it non-interchangeable, matching an NFT's own
uniqueness property.

ANSWER: £5 note - fungible; signed first-edition book - non-fungible;
company share - fungible; specific concert seat - non-fungible. The
deciding question in each case is whether any two units of the same
general category are genuinely interchangeable in value and identity,
or whether each individual unit carries distinguishing, non-
substitutable characteristics.

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WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER

This applies the chapter's own fungible/non-fungible definition to four
genuinely different real-world categories (currency, collectibles,
securities, and event access), correctly identifying the deciding
factor (interchangeability) in each case rather than just asserting an
answer.