Richard
How much to fix my car? I won’t tell you if it’s an old Yugo or a Bentley, nor what the symptoms are. That’s basically what Seth asked, and Sylvan’s reply, although flippant, is not totally out of line.
I had a post-doc working for me in a lab, and asked me how much a certain reagent cost. He never told me how much he needed, what grade, what concentration, etc. I just handed him the catalogue and told him to enjoy himself. Non-specific questions can only be responded to with non-specific answers, or flippancy.
The Friendly Chemist 
