# Three in a Hotel Room

1. Sep 27, 2011

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? 2. Sep 27, 2011 ### Evo ### Staff: Mentor 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. Last edited: Sep 27, 2011 3. Sep 27, 2011 ### 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. 4. Sep 28, 2011 ### Megasundato That's right. The tricky part is when you add in the false equation with the$9.

5. Oct 10, 2011

### sophiecentaur

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