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Where is the missing dollar?

Discussion in 'Whatnots' started by Jschild, Nov 4, 2003.

  1. Jschild Gems: 8/31
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    Remove all ads!
    Here is a quick riddle for everyone.

    Three guys go to a hotel and rent a room. The Manager tells them that the room is $30 for one night. Each of the three guys puts in $10 for the room. After the men leave to go to the room the manager remembers about the special they are having and the room should have cost $25. He gives $5 to his assitant and tells him to give the money back to the men. On the way to the room, the assitant thinks to himself and decides that the 3 men cannot split the $5 evenly so he pockets $2 and gives the men $3 so that they can split it evenly. Each man gave $10 initially and then got $1 back. So to put it another way, each man actually paid $9 each for a total of $27 dollars and the assitant kept $2. That gives us a grand total of $29 dollars. What happened to the last dollar??????
     
    Jschild, Nov 4, 2003
    #1
  2. Hacken Slash

    Hacken Slash OK... can you see me now?

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    It was kept as part of an Administration plot to defraud the taxpayers and raise funds to enable a take-over of the world. Pinky and Brain would be proud!...sorry...I don't know...just poking at Ragusa and Chandos. I know I've heard this before and the answer is agonizingly simplistic, just can't remember what it is.
     
    Hacken Slash, Nov 4, 2003
    #2

  3. Manus Gems: 13/31
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    I know this one :D But I'm not going to spoil it for everyone else. Well I say spoil, what I mean is I'm going to give Jschild a head start running from the lynch mob that's going to appear when the answer is revealed.
     
    Manus, Nov 4, 2003
    #3

  4. Jschild Gems: 8/31
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    Thanks.....................................................dust flying as I fly away :)
     
    Jschild, Nov 4, 2003
    #4
  5. Hacken Slash

    Hacken Slash OK... can you see me now?

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    Run, jschild...run!
     
    Hacken Slash, Nov 4, 2003
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  6. Judas Gems: 7/31
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    Misdirection in maths. The number 29 shouldn't come into it anywhere. 27 is how much they would have paid if they each had 1 dollar refunded. 27-2 = 25, the cost of the room. Instead, they've compared the actual amount paid (after refund) PLUS the amount the pocketed by the assistant to the original price, which is nonsense.
     
    Judas, Nov 4, 2003
    #6
  7. Shell

    Shell Awww, come and give me a big hug!

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    My educated mathematical opinion is:


    Eh? ;)
     
    Shell, Nov 5, 2003
    #7
  8. reepnorp

    reepnorp Lim'n Lime Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    I get it! The three guys paid the 30, then the guy came (after taking two) and gave them 3. That leaves them with 28. 9 divides into 27, but not into 28. So just because he gave them the 3 to split themselves, the whole cost isn't right, because the final price, 25, doesn't divide into 3.

    Or something like that.
     
    reepnorp, Nov 6, 2003
    #8
  9. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Judas is right on the money ;)
    Here is how the money was spread after each transaction. Note how the columns always add to $30
    Code:
    men       $30 $0  $0  $3
manager   $0  $30 $25 $25
assistant $0  $0  $5  $2
    The misdirection comes from implying that you are supposed to add the 27 dollars the men paid with the two dollars the assistant kept to get the original 30 dollars. This is incorrect.

    The 27 dollars the men paid is in the hands of the manager and the assistant, so you add the 3 dollars the men were refunded to the 27 dollars to get back to the original 30, not the 2 dollars the assistant has.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Nov 6, 2003
    #9

  10. JSBB Gems: 31/31
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    I remember the first time someone tried to tell me this one. I was at a bar with some friends and everyone else was wondering where the missing dollar was and I just didn't get how exactly they thought that a dollar was missing. The storyteller tried to explain to me by saying 27 plus two being 29 and I just couldn't understand why, in the context of the question, anyone would possibly add 27 and two together.

    After he kept repeating this a few more times I finally clued in as to why I was supposed to think that I should be adding 27 and two instead of subtracting - I think my response was something like "Oh, by using the wrong frame of reference you are trying to trick us into adding instead of subtracting" at which point my friend threw up his hands in disgust and started telling accountant jokes.
     
    JSBB, Nov 6, 2003
    #10
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