A seriously mind bending math question for all the math geeks, 10 points for the correct answer?

Question

3 MEN GO INTO A MOTEL. THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK SAID THE ROOM IS $30 SO EACH
MAN PAID $10 AND WENT TO THE ROOM.

A WHILE LATER THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK REALIZED THE ROOM WAS ONLY $25,
SO HE SENT THE BELLBOY TO THE 3 GUYS' ROOM WITH $5.

ON THE WAY THE BELLBOY COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPLIT $5 EVENLY BETWEEN 3 MEN, SO HE GAVE EACH MAN A $1 AND KEPT THE OTHER $2 FOR HIMSELF.

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.

WHERE IS THE OTHER DOLLAR?

Answer 1

This question is like a magician's trick. It all depends on misdirection.

To account for the the $30, there are two parts - the amount the men paid, and the amount they have left. They paid $9 each making $27, and have $3 left, making a total of $30.

The $2 the bellboy has is part of the $27 that the men paid out.

Here's another version, to make the misdirection a little more obvious:
The three men paid $30 for the room.
The manager realized the room should have been $20.
He sent the bellboy with $10 to give back.
This bellboy was greedy, and gave each man $1, and kept $7 for himself.

So the men paid $9 each, making $27 dollars and the bellboy had $7 making a total of $34. Where did the extra $4 come from?

Answer 2

The two dollars that the bellboy took is not added to the $27 to give $29 as the last sentence states. It is subtracted from the $27 paid by the three men ($9 each), giving $25 (which is how much the room cost).

So basically, each man paid $8.33 for the room, and $0.67 each to the bellboy. This gives the $25 room charge, $2 for the bellboy and the $3 change from the original $30. This means there IS NO missing dollar.

Answer 3

Ok, first of all, they paid $30. So, the guy gave back $5 to the bellboy. Each person didn't pay $9 dollars. They paid $10 dollars, but they got back $1 each. Your thing doesnt make sense. There was no $2 dollars missing because they didn't pay $9, they paid $10. 30-5=25 they each got back one dollar, and the bellboy took $2. The total cost was $25, and there was no $2 missing. You just worded it to make it look like there was.

Answer 4

You can't compare the amount the bellboy kept with the amount that the men paid in the way the statement is written.

Each man paid $10

So now that the room costs $25, and each man paid $9 = $27

$27 MINUS the $2 the bellboy kept = $25, the amount the room costs.

Answer 5

It is $27-$2 - because they all share the cost of the $2 the bellboy keeps (it is a cost to them) - ($25 for the room +$2 for the bellboy)

$27-$2=$25 - the original price for the room

Or alternatively: $25 for the room, $2 the bellboy steals which is included in the price + $3 returned = $30 originally paid.

Answer 6

That is decades old at least. It has even been here on Yahoo! Answers many times with the answers explained clearly.

Answer 7

well it could be the fact that the man gave the bell boy his dollar insted of keeping it.

Answer 8

in the cash register

Answer 9

that would be the goverments cut of the deal

Answer 10

the other dollar is in change