This Will Mess With Your Head

[swerb]

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?

[British_Pharaoh]

i'm trying so hard to look like a smart arse and post the answer to this but i cant




it'll bug me until there's some kind of explanation

[consigliere]

Fuck me.

This has to have something to do with the multiplcation and subtracting. Order of operations.

[swerb]

This ruined a full hour of my banker holiday day off today.

If anyone can crack this, its Furls. Dude is a on the cusp of being a propulsion engineer on a nuclear submarine for the Navy.

[Eric]

when the motel gave 3 dollars back they had 27 left, but then the bellboy took the last 2 which makes the total 25. the fact that they paid 27 is no longer relevant to the original 30 that was paid, it is only then relevant to the 25 that was paid total to the motel because the bellboy took 2 of that 27 to = 25, NOT 30

30-3=27-2=25 as you all know

but...

we are making the mistake of adding 2 trying to reach 30, which already had 3 subtracted from it with the other 3 dollars that they gave back when really it should be subtracted to reach the 25 which is how much the motel was left with

[furls]

having a hard time following Eric's post, but here is my explanation of the facts:

The key is in this line:

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?

keep the transactions and their "perspectives" straight:

a.) from the hotels perspective: each man paid 8.33 for the room (25/3) and was then refunded refunded 5.00 dollars (2 of which are pocketed), so the money goes this way:

8.33 + 8.33 + 8.33 + 2.00 (tip) + 3.00 = 30.00

b.) from the customers perspective: Each man paid 10.00 and then was refunded 1.00. So to them it is 9.00 a piece plus a 1.00 refund each.

9.00 + 9.00 + 9.00 + 3.00 = 30.00.

Where they get you is that they mix the two perspectives. They give you the 9.00 part from the customer perspective mixed with the two dollars from the hotel's perspective. Basically you are mixing the balance sheets. THis trick is deceptive because it does incorporate the 3.00s on both sides (rightfully so) lending credence to the intuitive idea that the tip should be accounted for similarly.

This is basically a style of corporate sleight of hand. The guy who came up with that should have been doing books for Enron, i am pretty sure that they used similar practices to deceive stock holders.

[docstank]

The guys each payed 9 bucks that is 27 subtract the two from the 27 equals the price of the room, 25.
The brain teaser switches back in forth between the 25 and 30 dollar hotel cost in a manner that confuses.
Like I am sure this post will.
stank