Where's the other dollar?

[Zen82]

Three men enter a hotel and the man at the desk informs them that one room is thirty dollars a night so naturally each man pays ten dollars and heads to the room.  As they enter the elevator, the clerk realizes that the rooms are discounted that night at twenty five dollars.  He gives the bellboy the excess five dollars and tells him to return it to the three men; as the bellboy's on his way to the room, he thinks that three men will not be able to split five dollars evenly, so he keeps two dollars and returns one dollar to each of the men.  Each man paid ten dollars and were returned one, which is nine dollars a piece or twenty seven dollars total.  Twenty seven combined with the two dollars the bellboy kept is Twenty Nine dollars, where did the last dollar go?

[Zen82]

Somebody help please -- this one's killing me

[Quizmonster]

This is really a �problem' with the way the situation is worded, not a problem of arithmetic.  The three men paid 27 for the room, but only if you add in the 2 the bell boy kept.  That 2 should be subtracted from - not added to - the 27, which gives the room cost of 25.  Looked at another way, the desk-man has 25, the bell boy has 2 and the men have3, which equals 30, which is exactly where you started.

[luckystrike]

I've tried to work this one out on paper, and it's very confusing!

 

But why not look at it from the point of view that the room actually only costs $25 for the night.  Each man has paid $9, so a total of $27, of which the bellboy has kept $2.

[luckystrike]

Looks like we posted together Quizmonster, but how could I compete with you!!!

[Quizmonster]

We both seem to have come up with much the same answer, Lucky, so that's the main thing. Such synchrography incidents can be a bit annoying, I know! Cheers

[bernardo]

*yawn*

[Quizmonster]

Haven't you had your nap yet, B?