Driving me mad!!!

[merciasounds]

Three men go to a hotel and ask how much for a room, the hotelier tells them, �30. They each put ten pounds on the counter and go to the room. The hotelier then realises that he's made a mistake, and the room is in fact �25, so he gives the bell boy 5 �1 coins to put it right. Now the bell boy realises that he can't give each man back the exact right amount, so he decides to give each man back �1, and keep the the other two for himself. This he does.
So now we have three men paying �9 each, so 3x9=27, the bell boy kept �2, 3x9=27+2=29 - where has the other �1 gone?

[kempie]

There is no other �1.

The �30 is a red herring since it is superceded by the amended price of �25.

Hotel gets �25
Bellboy gets �2
Men paid 3 x �9 = �27

25 + 2 = 27

[avern]

Wrong equation.

3 x 9 = 27 ... what the men paid'
27 - 2 = 25 ...what the room cost

or

3 x 10 = 30 ...what was originally paid
1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 5 ... what was returned by hotelier