Where did the dollar go?

[Pebbilita]

i got this email today.... does anybody know the answer because it's starting to hurt my brain.... :) thank you! 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?

[dawkins]

the men paid $2 too much for the room which was kept by the bell boy. The room costs 25 dollers and there is five dollers change split unevenly between the 3 men ($3) and the bell boy ($2) 25+3+2=30

[dawkins]

sorry that should be dollars (idiot)

[jake-the-peg]

I think the catch is adding where you should be subtracting....

3 men paid $9 for the room = $27 minus the $2 the bellboy kept = $25 the room actually cost

[OBonio]

JTP is correct.

If the bellboy kept the $5 then, according to this logic, the men paid $30 plus the $5 the bell boy kept... which they didn't. They only paid $30.

[weefatboab]

The answer is in the fact of each guy paid in total $9.33.3333... & the bellboy pocketed $0.66.6666...... from each. The other Dollar is there in the multiplication of the third of a Dollar they should have received.

[dunr]

The important detail in this question is 'What sort of hotel allows three men to share a room' ?

[Pebbilita]

hahahahahahaha!!!

[dot.hawkes]

what i don't get Pebbilita, is that the people on here have given you not only well thought out correct answers, but they have done it in a simple form, that even i can understand and you don't even rate their answers, yet you respond to a reply that does not even remotely answer your question. Did u really not want to know the answer?

[Peter Pedant]

HI Dot !

Oh come on, the stars are in the eyes of the beholder.

my best answers are often unstarred and unappreciated...and remember in Pride and Prej, Darcy's sister would onlyventure a comment when she was QUITE sure that no-one was listening......

PP

[Peter Pedant]

HI Dot !

Oh come on, the stars are in the eyes of the beholder.

my best answers are often unstarred and unappreciated...and remember in Pride and Prej, Darcy's sister would onlyventure a comment when she was QUITE sure that no-one was listening......

PP

[Pebbilita]

But of course.... all of your answers are always very much appreciated. Thank you! :)

[sarahkp533]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Science/Questio n357160.html#
Post an Answer
I received the same e-mail yesterday. I know that 25 + 3 + 2 = 30, so there is really no dollar missing.
But when I look at the idea that each man originally gave $10, and each man was given back one dollar of that, that really does leave each man giving only $9.00. But each man paid $8.3333333333333 for the room and received back $1.00.

This is a situation of knowing whether to add, subtract, or multiply.
You simply have to subtract for this problem. $30 - 25-3-2=0.

Nothing is missing.

Is there a better answer?