[theblackcarp]

You see a shirt for £97 but you don't have the money, so you borrow £50 from your Dad and £50 from your mum so £50 £50=£100 right?. So now you have your £100 you go and buy your nice new shirt and get £3 change, You give £1 to your Mum and £1 to your Dad and you keep £1 yourself.



Now you owe them both £49.



£49 £49 your £1=£99



WHERES THE OTHER £1 ?

[ebaines]

An old ridddle, which causes confusion due to adding the wrong things. It makes no sense to add together what you owe your parents and what you still have left over. Instead the math should go like this:

The amount you owe your parents equals the amount that you paid for your shirt plus the amount you kept:

49+49= 97+1.

Or alternatively: starting with 100 (what you borrowed) - 97 (what you paid for the shirt - 2 (what you returned to your parents) = 1 (what you still have in your pocket).

[Wondergirl]

owed 50+50=100
change 100-97=3
gift? 50-1=49
owed 49*2=98
value 97+1=98
missing 98-98=0

OK, so WHERE did you get the 99? Oh well, you ended up borrowing $98(2*49). You ended up getting $98 values(97+1($97 shirt +$1)). You gained NOTHING!

[ArcSine]

It's a neat little riddle. I heard a variant some years back that puts up a little more smokescreen in the form of background noise...

Three co-travelers stop at an inn for a night. Each has a $10 bill in his pocket. Desk clerk informs them the inn has a room available for $30. They each pitch in their $10 and head upstairs.

A few minutes later the desk clerk discovers he's made an error; the room is only $25. He pulls 5 ones out of the register, gives them to the bellhop with instructions to take the money to the new guests.

On the way up, bellhop slips 2 of the singles into his pocket, then gives the other $3 back to the travelers, telling them the room was only $27 instead of $30.

Now each of the three travelers has paid $9 (gave a ten, got back a one), which is $27. Add that to the $2 in the bellhop's pocket, that accounts for $29 of the $30 they started with. Where's the other dollar?