Voted Number 1 Riddle!?

Question

3 women check into a hotel for £10 each. A total of £30 paid. They all go to their rooms and are happy.

But the manager comes down and states that there is a discount of £5 when 3 seperate rooms are occupied all at once.

Immediately he gives the bell boy £5 & asks him to share it out between the 3 ladies. The bell boy using his head thinks £5 is hard to share between 3 people. As they are already happy he gives them all £1 each and pockets the other £2

Everyone remains happy but something isn't quite right. If each of the ladies have had £1 back from their £10 originally paid, they have each paid £9 for their room.

Sounds simple but then 3 x £9 = £27.

Now we know that the bell boy pocketed £2 but £27 + £2 = £29.

Originally they spent £30 on the rooms yet now there has only been £29 spent. So the question is: Where did the missing pound go?

Answer 1

Now i have a headache trying to figure this one out. Thanks.

Answer 2

This particular item stumps a good many people because it contains a simple error which is often overlooked due to its deceptive wording. Tracking the money through the transactions reveals that no money has gone missing:

1) The three women start out with £10 each (£10 x 3 = £30).

2) The three women pay £30 for a hotel room. Afterwards, a five pound overcharge is returned to them (£25 + £5 = £30).

3) The bellboy divides up the £5 overcharge, returning £1 to each of the three women (for a total of £3) and keeping £2 for himself (£25 + £3 + £2 = £30).

Where did the missing pound go? Nowhere. A pound only goes "missing" because the statement "each woman paid £9 for the room" is wrong -- each of three women paid out a total of £9, but that £9 included both the room charge and the bellboy's tip. All in all, each woman paid out a total of £9 and had £1 left over, completely accounting for the £30 they started with.

The room cost £25, so each woman paid one-third of that cost (£8.33). The bellboy kept a tip of £2, so each woman paid one-third of that cost (£0.67) as well. Overall, each woman paid out £9 (£8.33 + £0.67) and had a pound left over: (3 x £9) + (3 x £1) = £27 + £3 = £30.

Any pounds still left unaccounted for may be sent to ME for proper disposal.

Answer 3

There is no missing pound. They paid £30 then the bell boy was given 5 single pound coins by the manager. He handed one coin to each of the women and pocketed 2. The women have paid £25 for the room plus one £ each for a total of 28. Plus the 2 in his pocket is 30.

Answer 4

actually £25 was paid for the room which mean 2 ladies paid £8.33 and one paid £8.34 this added to the £1 that the bell boy gave each of them them is £28 plus the £2 the bell boy kept is a total of £30

heres a riddle 4 u
a man goes to the same building every day
on a rainy day he rides the elevator all the way to the 14th floor
but on a dry day he only rides to the 10th floor and walks the other 4 floors...why?

Answer 5

officially they only payed 25 between the 3 of them but the bell boy pocketed 2 ponds and gave back 3 that make 30 pounds

Answer 6

Heh that's an oldie - my granddad used to try that one one me :P As previously answered, it's based on misinformation - they didn't pay £9 each. Personally that sort of puzzle annoys me but I know some people love it so I won't complain!

The main reason for posting this answer is that I'd be interested to hear _where_ it was voted the number one riddle - could you give your sources?

Rawlyn.

p.s. redheadedpunkgirl - If you care to notice, the currency used in the puzzle is the £ - the British Pound. In the UK taxes are inclusive, unlike the American or Canadian (and presumably other places) system, so that can't possibly be the answer.

Answer 7

it seems simple enough.
by refunding the women one poundsterling their total contribution becomes 27 because each has now put in nine only.
the bellboy keeps 2, a rather excessive tip in my opinion, and the hotel has 25 which is ten plus ten plus one room discounted by five.

Answer 8

no sherob1 i do not think that is correct because they were not refunded $5 just $3 coz the bellboy took $2 for himself.


The answer is simple - I stole the other $1 :D

iknowsome .. . i dont like your answer either you complicated it too much - and i still dont get it :(

Answer 9

Sherob1, cos the stairs are outside

Answer 10

i wanna know the answer of sherob1's riddle...