[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?

[ebaines]

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.

[Dchdman]

" 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? "

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?

[ma0641]

I would think HE should know!