if 3 people check into a motel and the room costs 30 dollars so each pays $10 then the manager discovered that the bill was only 25 for the night & he gives the $5 to a clerk to return to the three men. On the way the clerk realizes that he cannot divide the $5 evenly between the three men so he decides to give them each a dollar back and keep $2 for himself. My question is what happened to the other dollar in this equation? Because each man now paid $9 for the night. 9 times 3 equals 27 the clerk keeps $2 himself that's $29... so where is the last dollar?

This riddle is an oldie but goodie, and has been asked multiple times on this site. Are you really looking for an answer? I'd hate to post a spoiler solution if your goal is to provide an amusing challenge for people.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bobby Micalotas

" if 3 people check into a motel and the room costs 30 dollars so each pays $10 then the manager discovered that the bill was only 25 for the night & he gives the $5 to a clerk to return to the three men. On the way the clerk realizes that he cannot divide the $5 evenly between the three men so he decides to give them each a dollar back and keep $2 for himself. My question is what happened to the other dollar in this equation? Because each man now paid $9 for the night. 9 times 3 equals 27 the clerk keeps $2 himself that's $29... so where is the last dollar? "

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Take a look at the way the question is worded you can figure it out and yes I could also give the answer.

Update

Actually I will give the answer as this is a pretty old question that stumped many people though the answer can be found all over the internet now.

So here goes.

1) The three men start out with $10 each ($10 x 3 = $30).

2) The three men pay $30 for a hotel room. Afterwards, a five dollar overcharge is returned to them ($25 + $5 = $30).

3) The bellboy divides up the $5 overcharge, returning $1 to each of the three men (for a total of $3) and keeping $2 for himself ($25 + $3 + $2 = $30).

Where did the missing dollar go? Nowhere. A dollar only goes "missing" because the statement "each man paid $9 for the room" is wrong: each of three men paid out a total of $9, but that $9 included both the room charge and the bellboy's tip. All in all, each man paid out a total of $9 and had $1 left over, completely accounting for the $30 they started with.

The room cost $25, so each man paid one-third of that cost ($8.33). The bellboy kept a tip of $2, so each man paid one-third of that cost ($0.67) as well. Overall, each man paid out $9 ($8.33 + $0.67) for the room and bellboy tip and had a dollar left over: (3 x $9) + (3 x $1) = $27 + $3 = $30.

Any dollars still left unaccounted for may be sent to us for proper disposal.

BTW here's a good English language one.

The first two letters of an English word refer to a man, the first three refer to a woman, the first four to a great man and the whole word to a great woman. What is the word?

I would think HE should know!