Sunday, May 18, 2008

Stumped

My niece sent me this email today, and Andy and I are sitting here stumped. If you can figure it out please let me know...

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?

Andy has it figured out, but I'm still confused.

5 comments:

Kindall Klan said...

the problem is that the wording tricks you! Really, if you look at it this way, it makes sense. The room was $25, and each of the three men got $1 back, totalling $28. The bell boy took $2, which adds up to $30.
They're tricking you by trying to get you to ADD the 2 to 27. There isn't any missing money, it's just a wording trick! :)

mandbrid said...

So the real puzzle is, what are three men doing paying for a motel room anyway?...HMMMMMMM....

Amber H. said...

LOL! Mandy, you crack me up girlfriend!

Wendy a.k.a. Ragtags said...

$25 divided by 3 = $8.33, which is what each man truly paid for their room. When the bellboy gave them each a $1 back, the "extra" dollar was the 33 cents from each of them that covered the the odd dollar in the final room price of $25.
So, to answer the question, dollar in question is now in the cash register.

Anonymous said...

very clever word trick! As answered above!