Three poor farmers visit the big city for the first time. In the town, they visit a cheap hotel. The hotel owner is farmer-friendly: he has a room for 3 persons which costs only 30 dollars.

So, the farmers agree to pay $10 each. They pay and go to their room.

But then, the hotel owner realises that he has forgotten his super discount. The farmers only had to pay $25. So, he calls the bell-boy and tells him to give the farmers their $5 back.

But the bell-boy thinks: "You can't split 5 by 3 well. If I give them their $5, they'll probably have a fight." So he keeps $2 for himself and gives the other $3 to the farmers.

Now, the farmers each paid $9, that's $27 in total, and the bell boy kept $2. But together, that's $29!

What happened to the missing dollar?

The error is here:

Now, the farmers each paid $9...and the bell boy kept $2.

This statement in the problem is misleading.

The boy's fee, being a cost to the farmers, should be added to the discounted room rate of $8.33, not deducted from the refund. It amounts to $0.66 per guest. Then ($8.33+$0.66)*3=27, the amount referred to in the problem, plus $1 refund each = 30.

Edited on April 9, 2016, 12:07 pm

Posted by broll on 2016-04-09 11:31:28