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chester1097 · Jul 16, 2012, 05:32 AM

A boy wanted to buy a shirt that costs 97.00

he asked mom to give him 50 and also to his dad 50

he bought the shirt

he have change of 3

he gave one to mom, one to dad and he keep the other one to himself

so he only have 49 to credit to mom and 49 credit to dad

49 + 49 + 1 = 99

the problem is where is the other one !

"sorry for my english please help me this one s my mind"

ebaines · Jul 16, 2012, 05:49 AM

This same problem (or slight variants to it) has been asked multiple times in the past couple of weeks. The correct math is: money from mother + money from father =- amount spent on shirt + $1 the boy kept:

(50-1) + (50-1) = 97 +1.

Note that this can be rearranged to be in similar form to the question posed, except hat the sign before the 1 is negative:

49+49-1 = 97.

Or alternatively it you want an equation that adds to the original $100 you can do this:

Amount originally borrowed from both parents = amount spent on shirt plus amount returned to parents plus $1 kept by the boy:

2 x 50 = 97 + 2x1 + 1.

The question posed (49 + 49 +1 = 99) is mixing up the net amount of money borrowed from the parents with the money kept by the boy and ignores what was paid for the shirt. It's a misdirection intended to confuse people who don't think it through.