Three men go to a hotel and rent a room. The sign outside the hotel said rooms for 30 dollars.They each give the clerk a 10 and the bellboy leads them to their room . Shortly after they leave the clerk notices that rooms are on sale for 25 dollars. When the bellboy returns he gives the bellboy 5 dollar bills to return to the men.On the way up the bellboy realizes he cannot devide 5 dollars by 3 men so he puts 2 dollars in his pocket. He reaches the room and gives each man 1 dollar back.

Now each man has paid 9 dollars for the room 9 times 3 equals 27 the bellboy has 2 dollars in his pocket 28 and 29 where did the other dollar go?

 

Each of the three men owed, at the $25 discounted rate, $25/3 = $8 1/3.
Each man paid, after the refund, $9.00.
Each man was then owed $9 - $8 1/3 = $2/3.
$2/3 x 3 = the two dollars that the bellboy pocketed.
There is no missing dollar.

- Tom Gootee

http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/index.html

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Now each man has paid 9 dollars for the room 9 times 3 equals 27 the bellboy has 2 dollars in his pocket 28 and 29 where did the other dollar go?

The deception is in this sentence - the $2 should be subtracted (not added) because it is owed to the three men.

$30 - $3 refund - $2 stolen = $25.

 

#1=-10 +1 = -9
#2=-10 +1 = -9
#3=-10 +1 = -9
Bell Boy=0 +2 = 2
Total = -25

Hotel=30 -5 = +25

Hehe, thats last sentence is tricky.

 

I'm betting my $2 on Niftydog's answer! It should not run "bellboy has 2 dollars in his pocket 28 and 29" but rather "bellboy has 2 dollars in his pocket 26 and 25." The clerk has only $25 after all - not $30.

 

The funny thing about this conundrum is that even though you know there is a con, at first you spend a lot of time trying to convince yourself that it is indeed a con! It's a classic example of playing on words.

Dave

 

u all are wrong. that $1 is with me and i m not giving it back, no way!

i have heard this puzzle in so many different form its quite a famous one all across the globe i suppose.
who designed this one this confuses u like hell,he really knew how to play with people's thinking.when i ifirst heard this puzzle(way back) it took me days to figure it out that the two dollars are owed and hence is a part of the 27 dollars they paid.