Question

MATH RIDDLE! HELP!!!

3 guys walk into a hotel. The hotel charge was $30. Each guy payed $10. The owner felt bad bc they were such nice guests. So the owner gave $5 to the bell boy to give to the guys. The bell boy thought for a moment. You can't split $5 w/ 3 guys ( w/ 5 singles quickly ) so he took $2. So he gave the guys the $3. They each get $1 back. So they each paid $9 ( $27 total ) ThE bell boy took 2 and they paid 27 ( $29 total ) What happened to the other dollar?

Answer 1

The method for working out how much they each paid is incorrect, lets look at it from a different perspective.

The 3 guys paid him $30, now he gives back $5 to the guys.

So there is $25 with the owner and $5 with the bell boy.

Now the bell boy keeps $2 and gives back $3, $1 to each of the guys.

So there is $25 with the owner, $2 with the bell boy and $3 with the guys.

Now indeed the guys paid $30 - $3 which is $27 dollars, but we can see that that is now split between the owner and the bell boy as $25 + $2 = $27 dollars.