Can you solve this riddle?

J

James

Active member
Three men rent a hotel room. Each pays $10 for a total of $30 spent on the room. The next day the hotel owner tells the three men that they over paid for the room as it only costs $25. The three men tell the owner to give them each a dollar back and he can keep two dollars.

If you do the math, each man paid $9 a piece for the room for a total of $27. The owner kept $2 which brings the total to $29.

The question is where did the other dollar go?


This question is driving me nuts. Can you help?
 
S

SylvrStorm

New member
The error in logic is adding the $2 to the $27. In actuality, the $2 has already been added to the $25, because the $27 came from the $25 cost of the room, plus the $2 the men said the owner could keep. To total the original $30, you'd need to add the $27 total paid and the $3 ($1 each) returned to the three men.
 
W

whatupt1

New member
This is a semantic fallacy. The premise is false, which you can see when you work the equation backwards. The men do pay a total of $9.00 each (total of $27.00) for the room, but only after you add in the amount they tipped the owner. They paid $25 dollars for the room and they gave the owner $2 as a tip. ($25 + 2 = $27.00). At this point the only thing to add back in to get to the original $30.00 is the $3 the men received as a refund. ($27 + $3 = $30)

Or to simply it further:
There is a misdirect in the problem when it says that when you do the math each man paid $9 each for the room, plus $2 tip. They don't. They pay a combined price of $25.00 plus the $2 tip. The problem sets up a set of facts:
$30.00 was originally given to the hotel owner
Correct price of the room = $25
Each man receives $1 dollar refund = $3
The owner receives a $2 tip
$25 for room + $2 tip for the owner = $27

$30 - $27 = $3 which is how much the men receive back as a refund.

Those are the facts. Once you separate those out, you can see the misdirect in the puzzle. There isn't a dollar discrepancy as listed, all the money is accounted for.

Wording things in misleading ways is what allows swindlers to make a living. By wording it the way they have in the problem, you actually add in the $2.00 to the owner twice, and you don’t add in the $3.00 rebate to the men at all, which leaves you short $1.00.
 
S

Strange

Member
That question is false.
Ok so the each guy paid $10 which adds to $30

Then 1 dollar is given back to each men, and the Hotel owner gets $2.

So the three men each have 1 dollar, the hotel owner has 2 dollars, and the hotel room is $25

So 1+1+1+2+25= 30

That $29 question is false and is meant to throw you off
 
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