Can someone figure this out for me?

[albertGQ]

The Missing Dollar



Three men decided to split the cost of a hotel room. The hotel manager gave them a price of $30.

The men split the bill evenly, each paying $10, and went to their room. However, the hotel manager realized that it was a Wednesday night, which meant the hotel had a special: rooms were only $25. He had overcharged them $5!

He called the bellboy, gave him five one-dollar bills and told him to return it to the men.

When the bellboy explained the situation to the men, they were so pleased at the honesty of the establishment that they promptly tipped the bellboy $2 of the $5 he had returned and each kept $1 for himself.

So each of the three men ended up paying $9 (their original $10, minus $1 back) totalling $27, plus $2 for the bellboy makes $29.




Where did the extra dollar go?

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

You have to subtract instead of add... $9x3=$27 MINUS two is the $25 charge of the room.

I remember hearing this one 10 or so years ago... took me awhile to figure it out.

[Mr. Ski]

Originally posted by albertGQ@Mar 22 2005, 05:04 PM
So each of the three men ended up paying $9 (their original $10, minus $1 back) totalling $27, plus $2 for the bellboy makes $29.

It's in this line where reality and story diverge. They did pay $27 total between them but that included the $2 tip.

$25 to the Hotel
$2 in Tip
$3 Refund ($1 each)

$30 Total

[Cain]

It is misleading because of the last line. They should not be trying to reach 30$. If each guy gets 3 bucks back, they each paid 9, for a total of 27. 2 dollars of the 27 were paid to the bellboy, so you don't add 2 to the number of 27, you subtract to reach 25. Once the three guys are given a dollar back, the max number you can attain is 27. Not 30.

Or so I believe...I am bad with these things.

[Cain]

3 replies within 2 minutes of each other.

I vote mine the least clear and hardest to understand!