Hotel change

From Math Puzzle Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

A classic arithmetic puzzle. More tricky than anything, but a nice example of the importance of careful thinking for word problems

Puzzle

Three men checked into a hotel room for which they paid a total of $30. After the men had retired to their room, the hotel manager realized that hey had charged the men too much: they should have only paid a total of $25. The manager took out five $1 bills and instructed the bell hop to return the money to the men. On his way to the room, the bell hop realized that the three men would not be able to split $5, so the bell hop decided to take $2 for himself as a tip and simply return $1 to each of the three men. So now each man has paid $9, for a total of $27. That plus the $2 tip for the bell hop makes $29. What happened to the other dollar?