Do The Math

ZeeOSix

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Problem #1

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Problem #2

Three guys get hotel room, the desk clerk charges them $30 (it's 1940, so hotels are cheap). He discovers he overcharged them as the room should have been $25. So, he gives the bellhop $5 to take to the men in their room. The bellhop decides there's no way to divided $5 by 3, so he gives the men $3 and keeps $2 for himself. That means each man paid $9 for the room and the bellhop kept $2. What happened to the other dollar?
 
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17
There is no other dollar, each man should have paid $8.33, instead they paid $10. Clerk gave back $5, bellhop kept $2, meaning each man really paid $9.33 including tip.
 
Problem #1
10+10+10=30
10+5+5=20
5+2+2=9
5+2+10=17

Problem #2 The net transaction is $25. It is not $30 as implied by your question ...
$25=30-5=(3x10)-(3+2)=(3x10-3)-2=3(10-1)-2=3x9-2=$25
 
Last edited:
Each guest paid $10, for a total of $30:
10 + 10 + 10 = 30

They were inadvertently overcharged. They should have been charged $25 in total. Each guest's share should have been $8.333 ... .

8.333... + 8.333 ... + 8.333 ... = 25

Therefore each guest was owed a refund of $1.667 ... .

The dishonest bellhop only refunded each guest $1, leaving each guest short $0.667.

The bellboy kept each guest's unrefunded portion - $0.667 x 3 = $2.

In the end, each guest paid $9, for a total of $27, for the $25 room.

The bellhop kep the difference of $2 ($27 paid vs. $25 nominal rental rate).

There was no magic missing dollar. The Warren Commission concluded that the bellhop had acted alone.
 
Not a trick question at all, but it trips up a few people:
Joe and John both empty their pockets and the amount of money they have together is exactly $20.
Joe had exactly $19 more money than John.
How much money did Joe have?
No, Joe did not have $19.
(Reader's Digest once said this question is commonly used on job interviews)
 
A = money Joe had
B = money John had

A + B = 20 rewrite as B = 20 - A
A - B = 19 substitute from above A - (20 - A) = 19 -> A - 20 + A = 19 -> 2A = 19 + 20 so A = 39 / 2 = 19.50
Thus Joe had $19.50 and John had $0.50 which is exactly $19 less.
 
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