Need help with a riddle....

[Leandar]

I just know that someone is going to solve this real fast like and make me look like a complete dolt! lol Nevertheless that's ok. I need a little help from my fellow posters here. A riddle got posted by a friend of mine over on a Facebook page and I can't figure it out for the life of me. I have an idea, but I'm not sure. Here's the riddle:

Three salesmen check into a motel and the manager was out. the desk person charged them 30.00 for a room. The manager returned and said the clerk overcharged the men, only 25.00 he said. The clerk took the 5.00 to return but didn't know how to split 5...$ 3 ways, so He kept 2$ and gave each man back 1$. they paid 30$ or 10$ each. after getting back 1$ each they paid 9$ 3x9=27 + 2$ clerk kept. where is the other 1$ ?

Thanks for your help in advance!!

 

[trampledamage]

I can't put it into words to explain it properly - but the problem is in the 27 + 2 at the end. The sum should be they now paid nine dollars which equals $27, but the clerk has kept $2 that they should also have got back, so you subtract that from the $27 to get to $25. The important part is the fact that the clerk's $2 should have gone back to the customers to get to the $25.

It's similar to the trick of counting your fingers to get to eleven - if you count down from 10 on one hand you get 6 and count up from zero on the other you get 5 - 5+6 = 11.

 

[thestrangequark]

I remember this riddle. My teacher in 4th grade used it to teach us about the order of operations.

 

[UssGlenn]

the 27 includes the 2 the clerk kept, not the three they got back. they paid the motel and the clerk. it should read. after getting back 1$ each they paid 9$ 3x9=27 + 3$ they got back.

 

[Joshua Howard]

They paid a lump sum to start with; $30 for all of them, which started off $10/person. At $25, however that works out to $8.33/person. Add three bucks in and they paid $9.33. In any case, The desk person pocketed $2 and the salesmen paid a total of $28.

The statement lies. After getting $1 each back, they paid $9.33 (not $9 as suggested), $9.33 x 3 equalling 28 (not 27). The other $1 was lost by whoever didn't count past the decimal point.

-

Actually, the reason this riddle is tricky is not numerical as much as psychological. It starts off by conditioning the reader into subconsciously believing that dividing $5 by 3 (using the decimal system) is difficult. Thus, the reader tries to solve the whole problem by using only whole numbers.

It also plays, I would venture, on the fact that 1/3 winds up being 33.33~%, which is a frustrating if thought about coincidentally never-ending number.

 

[UssGlenn]

They paid a lump sum to start with; $30 for all of them, which started off $10/person. At $25, however that works out to $8.33/person. Add three bucks in and they paid $9.33. In any case, The desk person pocketed $2 and the salesmen paid a total of $28.

The statement lies. After getting $1 each back, they paid $9.33 (not $9 as suggested), $9.33 x 3 equalling 28 (not 27). The other $1 was lost by whoever didn't count past the decimal point.

wait, they really only did pay $9. I just reenacted this with slips of paper standing in for dollar bills. salesmen end up with 3, clerk with 2 and motel with 25. 25+2=27, not 28. no change needed

 

[Joshua Howard]

^ Ah yes - You're right, and I need to get my CPU replaced.

 

[Amaris]

Then we get to the more important part of the riddle. How many times did the salesmen beat up on the clerk for stealing their money in the first place? It's very simple.

The three salesmen each gave one punch to the face and one kick to the groin for every dollar stolen. 3x2=6 hits. How many teeth are missing?

J.

 

[Starbreaker]

Math is hard.