Three in a Hotel Room

Megasundato

So, three men pay for one hotel room which costs $30 each paying $10. Hours later the clerk realized he made a mistake and found out that the hotel room only costed $25, so he sent a bellboy up to the room with $5 to give to the three men. The bellboy realizes that you can't divide $5 evenly among three people, so he takes $2 for himself, tells them it was a tip, and gives each of the men $1.

Later on, the men were balancing their budget and recording what they spent for that day. Their notes read that each man paid $10 at the beginning for a thirty dollar hotel room, but got a dollar back, so basically, it would be as if they each paid $9. Nine times three is twenty-seven and the bellboy has $2 for the tip. collectively, that would make $29.

Where did the other dollar go?

Evo

They paid $30. The bell boy kept 2. That leaves $28. He gives the men $3, that leaves $25, which is the cost of the room.

The mistake in this "problem" is that it subtracts 3 but adds the 2, both the 3 and the 2 must be subtracted.

DavidSnider

HOTEL 0, BUSINESSMEN +30, BELLBOY 0
HOTEL +30, BUSINESSMEN -30
HOTEL -5, BELLBOY +5
BELLBOY -3, BUSINESSMEN +3

Hotel: +25, Businessmen +3, Bellboy +2

No missing dollar.

Megasundato

That's right.

The tricky part is when you add in the false equation with the $9.

sophiecentaur

Just like the Chancellor's Budget, every year, in fact.