10 points to who solves the riddle fastest!?

Question

3 men go into a motel. The man behind the desk said the room is US$30, so each man paid US$10 and went to their room.

A while later the man behind the desk realized the room was only US$25, so he sent the bellboy to the 3 guys' room with US$5. On the way, the bellboy couldn't figure out how to split US$5 evenly between 3 men, so he decides to give each man US$1 and kept the other US$2 for himself.

This meant that the 3 men each paid US$9 for the room, which is a total of US$27. Add the US$2 that the bellboy kept brings the total to US$29.

Where is the other dollar!?

Answer 1

The answer is in the way the question is worded. You cannot add what one person HAS to what someone else has PAID and come up with any kind of a meaningful number, you have to subtract.

Each man has paid $9.
The bellhop has $2.
Difference:

$9 x 3 = $27, - 2 = $25

The hotel clerk has the other 25 dollars.

To look at it from the standpoint of the original $30. Each man has $1. The bellhop has $2. The hotel clerk has $25.

Total:

$1 x 3 = $3 + 2 + 25 = $30

Answer 2

Other previous answers are correct, so this won't be the "first" correct answer. However I'd suggest the simplest way to explain it is by restating the story, with the following changes:

In the very last sentence, simply replace "Add" with "Subtract", then replace "US$29" with "US$25". Then add one more sentence, reading:

"The US$25 that were paid to the man behind the desk, plus the refunded US$5 that was divided between the 3 men and the bellboy, add up to the original US$30."

This way no fancy math equations are necessary to arrive at the US$30, and the main point (that the US$2 should have been added, not subtracted) is explained clearly.

Answer 3

Clever, but deceptive. There is no missing dollar. Of the $5 that was to be returned to the 3 men, only $3 was returned, which, when added to the $25 already spent, is $28. The bellboy kept $2 as reported, which brings the total to $30.

Answer 4

cool

umm you added the 2 dollars to the total when there was only 27.. each man paying 8.3 for the room... the .33 X 3 makes up the last dollar.. the tip is taking to account saying each man payed 9 dollars

8.33 for the room then bellboy took the 2 for a tip..

Answer 5

hmm wierd.

--------------------------
(edited after Red Yeti's post.)

the whole thing breaks down at:

30$ rent / 3 persons MINUS 3$ rent / 3 persons =
27$ rent / 3 persons ... = 9 dollars/ person

The tenants each actually paid this amount after the refund.

A total of 27$.

And then the trick... is to say: "How does the 2$ taken by the bellboy plus the 27$ add up to 30$?"

It doesn't.

However 27$ - 2$ (the bellboy's sum) Does add up to the right figure... 25$, not 30$.

Answer 6

You don't add the $2, you take them away - they each pay $9 which is $27 which covers the $25 + an unwitting $2 tip for the bellboy.

Answer 7

If the room is only $25 then really it's $8 and 1/3/person + $2 + 3 = $30

Answer 8

Maybe the man behind the desk kept it, or the three men and the bellboy each kept 25 cents.

Answer 9

you wouldnt add the 2 bucks, but subtract it. They really paid $25, were each given $1, and the bellboy kept $2.

Answer 10

Each man paid $8.33 for the room, and each got a dollar back, so each paid $9.33 for the room, totaling $28. Plus two dollars for the bellboy. The numbers are just added wrong.