Three men go into a motel. The desk clerk said the room was $30, so each man paid $10 and went to the room. A while later, the desk clerk realized the room was only $25, so he sent the bellboy to the three guys' room with $5. On the way, the bellboy couldn't figure out how to split $5 evenly between three men, so he gave each man $1 and kept the other $2 for himself.

This meant that the 3 men each paid $9 for the room, which is a total of $27. Add to that the $2 the bellboy kept and the total is $29. Where is the other dollar?

eye just about killed myself trying to figure that out. then i realized the explanation and felt as though i had wasted much of my time. anyone who doesn't figure it out within 15 minutes should go jump off of a bridge so that they won't waste any more of their time or be bothered by wondering what the explanation is for the rest of their lives and not being able to figure it out because they had already used up their recommended maximum 15 minutes to spend trying to figure it out.

thank you and may the force be with you. *hands you a light sabor while the star wars bad guy's song plays in the background like you're going to a light sabor battle like these guys when ur actually just solving uh puzzle lollllllllllzzzzz i can't wait to see megadeth :starwars*

edit- i realized i might die or something before i get a chance to tell the solution so i'll post it in advance kthxbi

I've never bothered with those problems.

yeah, i always end up skipping those. :o

I got a headache reading it, so there is no way I'm going to try and figure it out.

they paid $27 - $25 for the room plus the $2 "tip" to the bellboy, there IS no missing dollar

...or if you insist on believing in a magical disappearing dollar, the bellboy shoved it up his nose in a dazzling display of sleight of hand.

well I didn't read the reasoning, but this is what i figured:

30-5=25
3+2=5

therefore, no missing dollar

the wording is wacked

They paid $28 for the room, not $27. Therefore, the bellboy got a $2 tip. :)

They didn't pay 29 dollars they paid 28

they paid $27 - $25 for the room plus the $2 "tip" to the bellboy, there IS no missing dollar

...or if you insist on believing in a magical disappearing dollar, the bellboy shoved it up his nose in a dazzling display of sleight of hand.

That is true, but if you do the problem backwards, there is a dollar awol. But if you just add it up, it makes sense.

I live for these kinds of problems.

Since the guys didn't get the $2 back, you cant subtract it out of how much they paid. Which means, the $27 includes the $2 the bellboy took. So, if you add the $3 that they got back..You get $30. :D

That riddle has been around for years. When is the last time you paid $30.00 for a hotel room> Hotels in my area go for $230.00 a night. I do live near the ocean in a tourist community.

I don't think the cost of the hotel is the point of the riddle, however I have paid $30 for a hotel room before. Nothing luxurous obviously. :lol: