Riddle

Three people go to rent a motel room
The guy at the counter says the room is $30
They each give him $10
after they walked off, he realized that he charged them $30 for a $25 room so he sends the $5 with the bellhop to return to them
When he get's there, they start trying to figure out how three people are going to split $5, so he gives them each $1 and keeps $2 for a tip
So now they have spent $9 each right?
$9x3= $27 plus the $2 that was the Bellhops tip =$29 What happened to the other $1?

Obama stole it....

My head just exploded

25/3=8.33. Not 9. .33*3=1

Nothing happened to it.
They spent 8.33 on their motel room and .66 cents on a tip nothing happened to the dollar.
25 hotel, 2 bellhop, 3 men

That answer makes the most sense.

Nothing happened to it. $25 to hotel, Dollars 26 and 27 to bellhop, Dollars 28, 29 30 back to each person.

They spent $25 on the room and gave a $2 tip for a total of $27. They each gave $10 for a total of $30 andeach got $1 back making the total spent $27. The tip is included in the $9 that they each spent, not in addition to it.

LOL

Who cares about the dollar. Why did that SOB get a 2 dollar tip for overcharging us?

I wanna know that too. Lowsy service if you ask me.

$9x3=$27 that each man paid after each got their dollar back. $27-$2 tip is the $25 rate that was to have been charged. No money missing.

Why did the bellhop think he was worth a $2 tip?

You can try to change it up all you want and talk in confusing circles but I saw this in a math book years ago and the mathematician experts say this is one of only several mathmatical errors known to exist. It "cannot" be explained or figured out. It doesn't compute and that's that.

This is really simple.....the original wording is misleading

1. When the bellhop gives them back $1 each the men have paid $10-$1 = $9/each or 3x$9 - $27 total. So the amount that needs to be accounted for is $27.

2. So the number that you need to get to is $27 NOT $30. And you get there by $25 that the front desk has and $2 that the bellhop has.

3. They word it trying to make you think that you need to somehow bridge to the $30 using there mathematics....they mislead you ...you need to bridge to the $27. If you want to account for the original three $10 bills or $30 total it's .....front desk has $25...bellhop has $2 and each man has $1 (3X$1 = $3).

Either way you look at it, they spent $9 each, that is $27. Plus the bellhop $2 makes $29.

Nope, they spent 8.33 each for the room. They got refunded 5 bucks from the thirty they paid.

That's CORRECT..they spent $27 dollars....Front Desk has $25 and the Bellhop has the other $2. You CANNOT add the $2 to the $27 because it is PART of the $27.

You guys are getting confused. Again, the $2 the bellhop has is PART of the $27 that they spent....you do NOT add it to the $27 to try and get $30.

If you insist on bridging back to the $30 then it goes like this..... They each believe that they spent $9 each on the room....3x$9 =$27 and they each got $1 back ..3x$1 =$3 ..and $27 +$3 = $30.

The original phrasing is worded in a way to confuse you.....it's not mathematically correct ..they add number that should not be added.

$25 is in the till downstairs ($25), each man has a dollar (+$3), bellhop has two (+$2). The answer is, tip the bellhop. Wasn't his fault the guy at the desk screwed up. The real question is how did the three dudes get rid of the crabs they caught at that cheap motel?

easy, lets do some math.
25/3 is 8.33333333333333333333 plus the dollar the bellhop gives back
is then 9.33333333333333333333 X 3 = 28.00 leaving the bellhop 2.00
it is all in the math.

It's actually more about accounting than math . Basic debit and credit dictates that you assign the value to either the Vendor [the motel] or the Consumer [the three customers]. The motel received $30.00 and then refunded $3.00 to the customers . The $2.00 the bellman kept [although surreptitiously] is still in the care , custody and control of the motel . The customers tendered $30.00 ,received $3.00 in hand and [unknowingly] contributed $2.00 to the motel's employee, who probably has a great future in politics .

The three guys didn't pay $9 for the room, they just thought that they did. The $9 comment is a red herring. The money is all accounted for. 10x3 = 30, 30-25= 5, 5-1-1-1=2 It's all there.

So why do so many people want to change up all the numbers? The numbers speak for themselves and the bottom line is, it's a mathematical error the experts can't get to work out. Deal with it!

It is NOT a mathematical error. The original wording is "intentionally" misleading the reader.... it is not correct. It incorrectly describes the problem and the math. There is NOTHING unexplainable here. Go back and read some of the posts that explain it. READ THE FOLLOWING "CORRECTIONS" TO THE ORIGINAL POST.

Three people go to rent a motel room - SO FAR SO GOOD
The guy at the counter says the room is $30 - AGAIN,SO FAR SO GOOD
They each give him $10 - STILL OKAY
after they walked off, he realized that he charged them $30 for a $25 room so he sends the $5 with the bellhop to return to them - STILL OKAY
When he get's there, they start trying to figure out how three people are going to split $5, so he gives them each $1 and keeps $2 for a tip - AT THIS POINT WE ARE STILL OKAY BECAUSE NO ONE IS TRYING TO EXPLAIN MATH

So now they have spent $9 each right? - YES, THEY THINK THEY PAID $9 EACH FOR THE ROOM AND THAT IS THE AMOUNT THAT NEEDS TO BE ACCOUNTABLE

$9x3= $27 plus the $2 that was the Bellhops tip =$29 What happened to the other $1? - NO THIS IS A TOTALLY UNTRUE STATEMENT. THE $2 IS PART OF THE $27

$9x3 =$27 (WHICH IS THE MONEY THEY SPENT)...THE FRONT DESK HAS $25 and the BELLHOP HAS $2 AND $25+$2 = $27

IF YOU WANT TO BRIDGE TO $30

$9X3 = $27 (WHAT THEY THINK THEY PAID) PLUS THE $1X3=$3 THEY GOT BACK AND $27+$3= $30

OR

FOLLOW THE PHYSICAL MONEY

FRONT DESK HAS $25, BELLHOP HAS $2 TIP (THESE TWO AMOUNTS ARE THE $9X3=$27 THEY THINK THEY PAID) PLUS THE $1X3=$3 THEY GOT BACK AND $27+$3 = $30


If you cannot follow the above I cannot help you.

But does anyone factor in the amount of time it took these three to figure out the answer. Way more than $1 even if they weren't a top wage earner and not the brightest bulbs in the box. If it took more than ten minutes for the three to work it out and they make $6.00/hour, renting the hotel room ended up costing them more than $10.00.

Bottom line is that it is not worth the headache and some academic egghead failed a kid because he got this question wrong on a final exam that has no bearing in the real world.

...and why are three folks staying in a $25/night motel anyway??? Gross.

Exactly. That stuff stays with you forever.