Who can solve this riddle?

Question

Three men went to stay at a hotel. They went to the front desk to check in. The man at the front desk said their total is $30.00. They each paid ten and went up to their room. A few minutes later, the man at the front desk said to the bell boy, "I charged those men to much, they were only supposed to pay $25.00! Here is five dollars, go give it back to them!". So the bell boy took the five dollars and headed up to their room. On his way up, he thought, "How do I split five dollars into three?" So he decided to give them each one dollar and keep two for himself. That means each man only paid nine dollars, and nine times three is 27 dollars, pluss the two the bell boy kept for him self equals 29, where is the missing dollar?

Answer 1

THIS MEANT THAT THE 3 MEN EACH PAID $9 FOR THE ROOM, WHICH IS A TOTAL OF
$27, ADD THE $2 THAT THE BELLBOY KEPT = $29.

It's this wording that throws you off. It says 9x3=27 then "ADD" $2 for $29. You wouldn't add the 2 you would subtract it. The men paid $27 for a $25 room, so $2 left over in the bellboys pocket.


Also, here's a link. Question has been asked here before. All of these answers say the same thing I do.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApOiN.3GtwHij2cUO9KwTwPty6IX?qid=20070711080235AAJH58G&show=7#profile-info-bafe449fbc9585f81672e6cab6b3b605aa

Answer 2

if each man pays 10 dollars, that is 30 total that they spent... the front desk is returning five dollars to them so they will have only spent 25... the bell boy gives each man three back, so they spent 27 dollars total... if the bell boy had given the other 2 dollars back instead of keeping it, they would have only spent 25 dollars, the correct amount. the total shouldnt be 30 so there is no missing dollar.

Answer 3

Here's the answer-

you dont have to get all complex with the math trying to figure out what each man paid with all those .33 cents and 1/3, thats just to confuse you.

they paid $30.
the bell boy gave them back $3, which changes this to $27.
there is where the riddle tricks you.
the riddle makes you think you should be adding the $2 to try to make $30 [which would only be $29],
when you should now instead be SUBTRACTING to get to $25.
if the bellboy had given them back the rest of it [$2],
it would have changed that from $27 to $25,
meaning there is no missing money.

Answer 4

heres the real answer...

The following night two friends check into the same motel. Once again the clerk charges them $30, or $15 per person. After the clerk remembers the total rate is only $25 he sends the bellhop upstairs with five $1 bills to pay the two friends back. The bellhop knows he got away with larceny once so he tries it again. But this time he pockets $3 and returns $2 to the hotel guests ($1 per guest). So each of the two guests got $1 back from their original $15. Therefore each paid $14 which is a total payment of $28 for the room. Now the bellhop has $3, the guests paid $28, for a total of $31....THERE'S THE MISSING DOLLAR!!!!

Answer 5

I know I saw this before, and I know I'm going to hit myself when someone else gets it right, but there was $25 in the till (originally $30 but the clerk gave back $5), one dollar in each of the men's pockets after the bellboy refunded it, and $2 in the bellboy's pocket. $25+$3+$2=$30.

I think the explanation is it was just coincidence that it came so close to what you said. I can't explain it, but there is the answer to where the money is.

Answer 6

Hmm I'm an excellent riddle solver but since there are no best answers then I'm stumped.Uh because the guard hired Osama Bin Ladden to crash the plane?

Answer 7

No, if the room was only $25, they did not pay $9 each, only $8.33.
$25 for the room, $3 returned, and $2 for the bell-boy.
That makes $30.

Answer 8

your suppose to subtract the 2, then u get $25, $3 for the 3 men, and $2 for the bell-boy.duhh

Answer 9

There is no missing dollar. One of the dollars was subtracted twice.

My math teacher showed this to the class, the point is that between the 9x3 and the 5 dollars there is an extra math step, that is unnecessary .

Answer 10

Each man paid $8.33 & 1/3 because the clerk charged them $25.00 The bellboy was wrong to keep the money without the men's permission.