Missing Dollar. Solve first n get 10 pts.?

Question

3 friends went to a motel and decided to share a room for the night. The clerk told them it would cost $30, so they each gave him $10. Later on the clerk realized he overcharged them and told the bellhop to return $5. Seeing that it would be hard for them to split $5, the bellhop decided to keep $2. He gave them each a dollar back, which means they each only paid 9 dollars. 9 + 9 + 9 = $27....but the bellhop only kept $2 which makes the total $29. What happened to the missing dollar?

the_ghost_or.. got it first. v good. this riddle confused the **** out of me the first time i read it

Answer 1

Here is the solution :

Each person's share is $9. So their total amount is $27.

Here come the tricky part. Now we have to add the remaining $1 of each person, ie $3 rather than $2. The reason is that $27 includes $2 of bell boy and we are forced to think that we should add 2 with 27, which is the actual trap.

$27($25 for room rent with $2 of bell boy) + $3 (remaining in their hands) = $30!

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:4UwFXRfkFNcJ:www.englishforums.com/English/MissingDollar/bdnhp/Post.htm+%22missing+dollar%22+riddle&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=firefox-a


EDIT: A better explanation of the same phenomenon:

The facts in this riddle are clear: There is an initial $30 charge. It should have been $25, so $5 must be returned and accounted for. $3 is given to the 3 friends, $2 is kept by the bellhop - there you have the $5. The trick to this riddle is that the addition and subtraction are done at the wrong times to misdirect your thinking - and quite successfully for most. Each of the 3 friends did indeed pay $9, not $10, and as far as the friends are concerned, they paid $27 for the night. But we know that the clerk will tell us that they were charged only $25 and when you add the $3 returned with the $2 kept by the bellhop, you come up with $30.

http://www.mentalbay.com/riddlesa/33

EDIT: Thanks! You wouldn't believe how much this riddle frustrated me the first time I read it...

Answer 2

there's no missing $. The clerk returned $5, that means he has $25. The bellhop returned each of them $1, so it it total $3. As the bellhop has the rest $2, it adds upto $30. They each had paid $25/3, and not $27/3, becauz the money with the bellhop is not the paid one.

Answer 3

No missing dollar. They paid $30 and got back $3 ($1 each)

Thus each paid $9 = $27 total

$25 to the house for the room and $2 to the bellhop who kept things simple. :-)

Answer 4

They did not pay 9 dollars each, they paid 8.33 1/3 each, since the total they paid for the room was $25.

Now we take the $25 that they paid for the room, and add the $3 that was returned to them and we get $28. Then add the $2 that the thieving bellhop stole and we get the full $30.

Answer 5

The clerk took the dollar by giving the bellhop that $5 and he sneak a dollar for him self.

Answer 6

There was no missing dollar. Since, they each paid $8.34 or thereabout for the room not $9.00, after the clerk told the bellhop to refund them $5.00.

Answer 7

whoa whoa...wait a second here... there's no missing dollar the clerk kept $ 25 and the bellboy kept $ 2 that's $ 27 , the other $ 3 was given back to them .

Answer 8

The clerk keep the dollar

Answer 9

C'mon guy.Everyone should know that its all about the wording.If I had a dollar for each time that I confused someone with that one then I'd be rich many times over.But it's still a good one though.It's a mathematic anomaly.

Answer 10

You counted the same number twice