Where was this from? The math used is stupid but I am guessing its supposed to be like that. They paid $30 and should have got back $5 which would have cost them $25. They got back $3 instead of the $5 so they technically paid $28. So that comes out to like $9.33 each plus the $2 the guy kept. Sorry i am just love math and couldnt stand this problem.
Spoiler the house keeps 25. the man keeps 2. the three men keep 1 each, for a total of 3. 3 times 9 is 27, but that is the total of what the man keeps and the house keeps, which is 2 + 25 = 27, not what they received back from the man. If you do it the way the riddle suggests you just subtract 3 twice instead of 2 once and 3 once.
i don't know how! i'll bumble around... ---------- Post added 23rd Nov 2010 at 03:09 PM ---------- i think that did it but the answer's still in your quote! =P
GAWD. I hate these kinds of questions but I can't help myself and I always try to figure it out. They're oodles of fun haha xD. I'll take Pseudojim's answer please
haha, i didn't know it! but i've heard questions very similar before, which rely on syntax to deceive the reader, rather than any mathematical trickery
The question contradicts itslef in the last part. each man paid 10 dollars..not nine.... or.. i am wrong? i dont know. what i know is hate math.
Spoiler Easy. The original price ($30) was divisible by 3. The price they actually paid, $25 was not. Therefore, the men did not pay equal prices, so multiplication does not matter. The main Hotel kept $25. The guy kept $2. 27+3 = 30. The key is that by deducting $5 from the bill, the number was not divisible by 3, so multiplication should not have taken place.
A follow-up to the problem (i.e. mock-resolution) - I got this from Wikipedia by the way: Spoiler Follow-up A follow-up is often mentioned as a mock resolution to the problem. A few months later, two of the original three guests check into a hotel room in the same hotel. The clerk says the bill is $20, so each guest pays $10. Later the clerk realizes the bill should only be $15. To rectify this, he gives the bellhop $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room, the bellhop realizes that he cannot divide the money equally. As the guests didn't know the total of the revised bill, the bellhop decides to just give each guest $1 and keep $3 for himself. Now that each of the guests has been given $1 back, each has paid $9, bringing the total paid to $18. The bellhop has $3, so $18 + $3 = $21, and the guests originally handed over $20, so that's where the missing dollar from the original problem is!
