Three friends arrive at an In late one night and rent a room for $30 (each of them contribute $10). THe next mornnig, the Innkeeper decides to give them a $5 discount because of a leak in the roof. Since he can't split the $5 evenly, he gives each of the guys $1 and pockets the rest

So, if each guy has paid $9 (for a total of $27) and the Inkeeper has $2 (for a new total of $29) where did the extra dollar go?

help would be wonderful! thanks :)

were all three "friends" guys?

OH good point! it doesn't say!

so what does that mean then?

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1384958

When you are adding how much then friends paid, you said each paid $9 for a total of $27.

Why are you adding $2 to that amount ?
The $2 are not part of the room payment, so adding 27 + 2 = 29 becomes a meaningless calculation.

A classic in misdirection.

Three guys walk in to a motel. The room was $30.00. They each paid $10.00
and split the cost of 1 room. When they reached the room the desk clerk
decides he over charged him $5.00. He gives the bellhop the five dollors
says to take it up to the room. When he gets there they each took back $1.00
and they
gave the $2.00 to the bellhop. So now they each paid $9.00 for the room.
That equals $27.00 plus the $2.00 tip that they gave the bellhop and that
equals $29.00. Where is the other dollar?

A classic in misdirection that never ceases to confuse, initially.
The misdirection comes from using the specific numbers resulting from the transactions in an improper way. We start with 30, followed by a 5 which is then broken up into a 2 and a 3, leading to a 27 by subtracting the 3 from the 30, plus the 2 giving us the inconceivable result. If you simply list the transactions indentifying the location of all the money, you soon see that all the money is all accounted for.
Cash in hand................Men...Hotel...Clerk
1--Men have $30............30
2--Men---$30---> Hotel.....0........30
3--Hotel---$5--->Clerk.......0........25.......5
4--Clerk---$3--->Men........3........25.......2
5--Final distribution.........3....+...25..+...2 = 30.

The misdirection comes from stating that the men paid $9 apiece for the room or $27 in all. Had the clerk given the $5 to the men and they, in turn, gave him a $2 tip for his honesty, they could have easily concluded that they paid $9.33 apiece for the room, (30 - 5 + 2)/3, making their total outlay (9.33x3) + 2 = $30.

To understand where the extra dollar went, let's break down the transactions step by step:

1. Originally, each friend contributed $10, which makes a total of $30. The Innkeeper has $30 in total.
2. The Innkeeper gives them a $5 discount, so they now owe $25 ($30 - $5).
3. The Innkeeper gives each of the friends back $1, which totals $3 ($1 x 3).
4. After the refund, the friends have paid a total of $27 ($30 - $3).
5. The Innkeeper kept $2.

Now, if we try to add up the money, we might get confused because the $27 that the friends paid and the $2 that the Innkeeper kept add up to $29, not $30. However, we need to remember that the $5 discount does not affect the $27 that the friends paid. It only affects the initial $30 that they had to contribute.

We can explain this by saying that the friends effectively spent $25 on the room (after the $5 discount), and the extra $2 that they gave to the Innkeeper is the $25 they spent on the room plus the $2 that the Innkeeper pocketed.

So, there is no "extra" dollar missing. The $27 paid by the friends plus the $2 kept by the Innkeeper equals the $29 spent in total. The math is correct; it's just a matter of understanding the transactions correctly.