Can you solve this?

Question

Three men walk into a hotel and ask for a room for one night. The receptionist asks for a £100 for each one. So the three of them pay £300 in total.

Minutes later the manager comes to the front desk and asks if there have been any new customers. The receptionist tells him about the three men and that he charged them £300. The manager tells him that he has over-charged them and and asks the receptionist to go to their rooms and refund them £50.

On his way up the stairs the receptionist puts £20 of that money in his own pocket and gives the rest to the men.

If you think about it, at this moment each man has paid £90 for the room. There are 3 men. So we have "3 X 90 = 270" plus there is the £20 that the receptionist took for himself; that makes £290. We are still £10 short of the original £300.

How's that possible??

Answer 1

these keep us thinking for some time and then we find that money is never lost......
300 - 50 = 250
50 - 20 = 30
ie., they paid Rs.280/- for the room and the receptionist has the balance Rs. 20/- with him....

but, good one for a thought process..... thanx.

Answer 2

Simple, the calculation was wrong. It should be:-

300 - 50 = 250

250 + (20+30) = 300

Nothing was lost, therefore, the money is still in the receptionist's pocket and the remaining was returned!

Answer 3

You are adding the £20 onto the £270 instead of taking it off to get the £250.

Answer 4

because the receptionist is still pocketing money instead of giving the men their full change.....
is that right...???

Answer 5

oh this puzzle AGAIN.
The maths is wrong. It's a very cleverly worded puzzle to make you think some money has gone missing, when, in fact, if you look at the maths, you see that it hasn't.

Answer 6

I have to admit I can't remember the answer although it was a doosy.

Answer 7

Tell me if my snoring is annoying

Answer 8

Nope...