Wednesday, October 31, 2007

What happened to the $1. Can you explain? - A simple math brain teaser that leaves you thinking..

So you think you are good at Math and at simple calculations. Here we go. Try and solve this..

Three guys came to a motel and asked for a room with 3 beds. The manager said that the room rent was $30. They said they will check the room and pay for it. So the boy took them to the room, they liked it and each paid with a $10 note and the net amount came to $30. The boy went back to the manager and gave him $30. Then the manager realized that they had discounts at that time and that the room rent was actually $25 for the day. Since he was honest, he gave $5 (5 1 dollar notes) to the boy and asked him to return that money to those guys in the room. While going to the room, the boy thought that they cannot share the amount of $5 equally and since they didn't pay him the tip last time, he thought that he will take $2 and give them back $3 so that each gets $1 back. He silently slipped $2 into his pocket and went to their room and gave each guy $1. Everyone was happy.

But here is the question about it.. Initially the three visitor guys gave $30. Each paid $10 and got $1 back. This means each paid $9 and so the total they paid is $27. $2 were stolen by the hotel boy. We have the count for $27 + $2 = $29. What happened to the remaining $1 ???

6 comments:

Patrick J Patten said...

10*3 = $30 original price of the room

The guys paid $27
The room cost $25
The bellhop kept $2.
25+2 = 27 should be the real equation should be 27-2 = $25

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Anonymous said...

The "missing" $1 is with the manager / hotel.

Remember, the total price of the room was really $25.

So each person paid $25 / 3 = $8.33333... for the room.

They got $1 back.

8.3333... * 3 + 3 + 2 = 30

Anonymous said...

the room was 25
3 dollars back = 28
2 dollars in the pocket = 30

Spending 25 on the room = 8.33 dollars per person

8.33 + 1 dollar back = 9.33 per person

9.33 x 3 = 28 + 2 to the bellhop = 30.

Cye Stoner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

There is not missing dollar. The addition sentence included at the end of the problem is incorrect. You would not add $2.00 to the $27.00 because it is already included. The amount the men spent $25.00 for the room plus the stolen $2.00 tip equals $27.00. It should be $27.00 spent plus $3.00 change equals $30.00.

Just Simple said...

I agree with the first comment