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Missing dollar (Posted on 2002-05-06) Difficulty: 2 of 5
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?

  Submitted by charl    
Rating: 3.2667 (15 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
There is no missing dollar; the arthmetic 27+2 makes no sense in the context of the problem. Each farmer paid nine dollars, for a total of 27 dollars. Of that 27, the bell-boy kept two and the rest ($25) went to the hotel. Therefore, the correct equation is: 27 - 2 = 25

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
solutionbroll2016-04-09 11:31:28
SolutionSolutonK Sengupta2007-04-01 15:20:19
wrongmallory2005-09-04 03:18:25
Solutionwrong additionlogischer Verstand2004-03-22 09:45:43
my mistakeloong2004-02-16 08:59:53
heyz. trying to trick us ehx. read the sentncesloong2004-02-16 08:57:30
SolutionOldie But GoodieJim C2003-07-11 05:53:26
Solutionummmm..... I knowLewis2003-06-03 06:35:38
SolutionI've already seen this problemAlpha Tiger2003-05-19 01:03:26
Hints/TipsPart 1,Money chartTim Axoy2003-03-25 11:26:39
Great!cges2002-12-06 06:17:42
My GuessGautam Joshi2002-12-04 00:48:43
SolutionHm...suna2002-11-11 15:42:10
Solutiontrickery!danny2002-11-04 15:04:48
YeahHazirah2002-08-03 23:34:49
Yeah, the question is phrased in an illogical wayJose Alejandro Guizar2002-05-07 14:31:34
The bell-boy wants sackingPaul2002-05-07 06:50:39
Where is this hotel?Paul2002-05-07 06:48:31
Am I missing something?Chris2002-05-07 04:29:50
CardinalityTim2002-05-07 03:30:44
Simple MathKire2002-05-07 03:19:56
SolutionJoe Roth2002-05-07 03:19:19
How Much *Did* they pay?Lokela2002-05-07 02:45:43
Maybe the solutionLW2002-05-07 02:45:43
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