3 people kick in $10.for a total of $30. They are given back 5 and take 1 each and give the other 2 as a tip. What happened to the other dollar

Question

Three people pay for a hotel room that costs $30.00 so they give $10.00 each.  The clerk returns 5.00 single dollars saying the room only costs $25.00.  They each keep one dollar and give two dollars as a tip to the clerk.  Therefore they each paid 9.00 dollars for the room (10-1=9), which is 27 and 2 dollar tip which is 29.  What happened to the other dollar?

Answer 1

Ah, a classic!

 

I'll give you 2 hints:

 

1) $30 has nothing to do with it.

 

2) Draw pictures of the different bills and the direction(s) they travel.

 

 

:-)

 

Have fun!

 

M

Answer 2

The equation should be set up as follows "money people paid" = "money paid to people". Each man effectively paid $9 for the hotel (9x3 = $27). They paid for both the hotel plus the tip to the clerk (25+2 = $27). Nothing is wrong these are equal.

 

In the incorrect equation we have 27 (amount men paid) + 2 (tip) should equal 25 (cost of room). However, the sign on the tip should be switched to be negative 27 (amount men paid) - 2 (tip) = 25 (cost of room).