Sunday, September 21, 2008

Riddle Me This

Three brother check into a hotel and rent one room. The clerk tells them the room is $30. for the night, so each brother contributes $10 and the room is paid in advance.About an hour after check-in the clerk discovers that he charged the weekend rate of $30 instead of the weekday rate of $25.

The clerk gives the bellhop $5 (five one-dollar bills) to return to the brothers. On the way up to the room, the bellhop realizes that they can't divide 5 dollars evenly among three brothers, so he presents only a $3 refund to their $30 hotel room, and pockets the extra $2.

Now: Each brother has paid $10 and received a $1 refund. So they spent $9 (10-1) each on the room, or $27 (3x9) total, and the Bellhop kept $2 for a total of: $29!What happened to the extra dollar?

11 comments:

RedWarthen said...

What the. . .my brain hurts! So I can't figure it out, but I'm sure that somehow the extra $1 went to the government:)

Joleen said...

I'm with Lisa!
My brain can't think that hard on a Monday (or any other day!)

The Ditts Fam said...

Ha ha Lisa. That is halarious!

Surprisingly enough, Drew got the answer. It's actually pretty easy and you'd kick yourself in the butt. Email me if you want the answer. ;) I'll post the answer in the next few posts.

Carolyn said...

It's just crazy math, right? If they all paid $25, then "tipped" the bellhop $2 ($27 total), then they each get a dollar ($3), then that equals $30! It's just a weird way of wording it... I think lol

The Ditts Fam said...

Hint: They never paid $25 for the room.

Carolyn said...

Well my way still works! It still makes sense! lol

The Ditts Fam said...

No it doesn't. ;) They each paid $9 They paid 10 and got 1 dollar back. So that is 9 each. They never paid $25 :)

Carolyn said...

So are you ever going to answer it or what???

Carolyn said...

It's all just worded weird. I'll do it your way, lol. They pay $30. minus the $3 they get back = $27. Minus the $2 the bellhop takes = $25, minus the $25 for the room = $0.

The Ditts Fam said...

Good job Carolyn.

ANSWER:

They ended up paying $27 for the room. They each paid $9 for the room since they were refunded $1 each. That is $27 and then got ripped off by the bellhop $2.

It throws you because you are focusing on the $30. $30- $3=$27
$27- $2= $25

Carolyn said...

LOL YAY! Thanks Pyper, it was starting to bug me since I have been trying to figure it out so long lol!