Jump n Fish
04-28-2010, 06:07 PM
Ok, so this has probably been around forever, but I just got it in email today. So I apologize if this is the oldest riddle in the book. This little mathematical anomaly absolutely dumbfounded me for about 15 minutes of feeling pretty stupid before I figured it out. For those that have seen this already or got it figured out, please don't give it away just yet. Let a few people rack their brain for at least a little while before we give it away.
3 men check into a hotel, and the clerk charges them $30 for a room, so each man pays $10. After they go to their room, the clerk realizes he overcharged them because rooms are actually $25. He takes $5 out of the register and goes to return it to them. On the way he realizes that he can't split $5 equally between 3 people, so he gives each man $1 back meaning each man only paid $9 for the room. Now if 9 x 3 = 27 and the clerk put the remaining $2 in his pocket that only makes $29 (27 2=29), so where is the other $1 from the $30 the men originally paid?
3 men check into a hotel, and the clerk charges them $30 for a room, so each man pays $10. After they go to their room, the clerk realizes he overcharged them because rooms are actually $25. He takes $5 out of the register and goes to return it to them. On the way he realizes that he can't split $5 equally between 3 people, so he gives each man $1 back meaning each man only paid $9 for the room. Now if 9 x 3 = 27 and the clerk put the remaining $2 in his pocket that only makes $29 (27 2=29), so where is the other $1 from the $30 the men originally paid?