1. Joined
    15 Feb '07
    Moves
    667
    21 Feb '07 21:23
    The manager is working at a hotel one night when three men come in and ask for a single room for the night. The manager replies that the cost will be $30, and each man puts in $10 and they head up to their rooms. The manager begins to put the money in the register when he realizes he has overcharged the men by $5, and asks a favor for the bellhop, who saw the men check in. The bellhop heads up to the room, when it occurs to him that $5 doesn't evenly divide into 3, and comes up with a bright idea. He pockets $2, and gives each man a $1 bill back, the men being none the wiser.

    Now the question is this.. We know that each man ends up paying $9, accounting for $27 of the original total and that the bellhop kept $2, so where is the missing $1?
  2. Joined
    13 Dec '06
    Moves
    792
    21 Feb '07 21:44
    Originally posted by geepamoogle
    The manager is working at a hotel one night when three men come in and ask for a single room for the night. The manager replies that the cost will be $30, and each man puts in $10 and they head up to their rooms. The manager begins to put the money in the register when he realizes he has overcharged the men by $5, and asks a favor for the bellhop, who ...[text shortened]... ounting for $27 of the original total and that the bellhop kept $2, so where is the missing $1?
    There is no missing dollar, of course, because the question is misstated: The men each payed $9, for a total of $27, the bellhop essentially just took $2 of that, and the remaining $25 went into the cash register.

    Only $27 left the men's pockets, not $30.
  3. Joined
    15 Feb '07
    Moves
    667
    22 Feb '07 01:49
    Doesn't look like anyone else has anything to add. You, sir, are indeed correct.

    The bad thing is, this problem was posed in some fluff (philosophy, I think) course at a technical school I was at, and tried to explain that the logical framing of the question was faulty, but I never could get the teacher to figure that out. Of course, it only works if you frame it that way, or else people naturally order it in a more consistent manner, and there ceases to be any riddle at all.

    When you point out the $27 paid, you are, in essence, pointing out where the money is NOT, rather than looking at where it IS.. The other $3 are with the gentlemen, as a rebate.

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