Greatest math joke/trick I have ever seen

MrJ · Jun 26, 2007

young and innocent said:
what happens here is that the guys were overcharged 66.6 cents each and that adds up to the $2 the clerk over charged after he gives them back the dollar each, originally he over charged each guy $1.66

amount paid for room= $27

The only thing in my mind after reading that question was that there is no extra dollar. Room was worth $25, they paid $27. Simple. I guess people would get caught up on the $30 the guys originally paid (ie $30 - $27 - $2).

quantumleap · Jun 27, 2007

Mr J said:
The only thing in my mind after reading that question was that there is no extra dollar. Room was worth $25, they paid $27. Simple. I guess people would get caught up on the $30 the guys originally paid (ie $30 - $27 - $2).

That's correct Mr J. The $25 is really an arbitrary number here and has nothing to do with the $30.

Let me give another example and let me pick another arbitrary number of $21. So the room charge is $21. Each of the guys pay $10 so the clerk takes $30. He feels guilty and decides to pay each guy $2 and keeps $3 for himself.

Each guy pays $8 ($24 total) and the clerk keeps $3 so that equals $27. What happened to the other $3? Well just like the first example it shouldn't be factored into the equation. The $3 should be subtracted from the $24 total paid to get $21.

gynecologist · Jun 27, 2007

Now I see why people get short changed all the time..

gynecologist · Jun 27, 2007

barman said:
Three dudes check into a $25 motel room, but the clerk overcharges them and gets $30 by taking $10 from each of them.

Later, he feels partially guilty so he goes to their room and gives them each back a dollar, while keeping two for himself.

The three dudes thus paid $9 each and the hotel clerk has $2. Where's the missing dollar?