Three girls paid $100 each, a total of $300, to share a motel room. Later, the desk clerk realising she should have only charged $250, gives the room attendant $50 and asks him to return it to the three girls. Unable to divide the money three ways he decides to give $10 to each girl and pockets the remaining $20. The girls have now paid #90 each or $270 for the room, and the room attendent has $20. What happened to the other $10?

there is no other $10

hotel: 250
girls: 30
clerk: 20

To understand what happened to the other $10, let's break down the scenario step by step:

1. Initially, the three girls paid $100 each, totaling $300.
2. The desk clerk realizes the mistake and wants to return $50 to the girls.
3. The room attendant takes the $50 and decides to give $10 to each girl, which accounts for $30 ($10 x 3 = $30).
4. He keeps the remaining $20.

Now, let's look at the total amount of money involved:

- $300: The original amount paid by the girls.
- $30: The money that the girls received back from the room attendant (3 girls x $10 each = $30).
- $20: The money kept by the room attendant.

Adding these three amounts, we get $300 + $30 + $20 = $350.

So, the total amount of money involved in the scenario is $350, not $360, as you mentioned in your question.

The reason for the discrepancy is that you added the $20 kept by the room attendant to the $270 paid by the girls. However, the $20 is already accounted for in the $300 paid by the girls ($300 initial payment - $30 they received back = $270 paid in total). Adding the $20 again would count it twice and lead to the incorrect total of $360.

Therefore, there is no missing $10. The total amount paid by the three girls for the room is $270, and the room attendant kept the remaining $20, adding up to the correct total of $350.

To understand what happened to the other $10, let's break down the scenario step by step:

1. Initially, the girls paid a total of $300 ($100 each) for the motel room.

2. The desk clerk realizes that the actual cost should have been $250, so she asks the room attendant to return $50 to the girls.

3. The room attendant, however, decides to keep $20 for himself and gives back $30 to the girls ($10 each).

Now, let's calculate the total amount spent by the girls and the amount kept by the room attendant:

Initial amount paid by each girl = $100
Total amount paid by the girls = 3 girls * $100 = $300
Amount kept by the room attendant = $20

Now, let's calculate the total amount spent by the girls after they received $30 back:

Amount spent by each girl after receiving $30 back = $100 - $10 = $90
Total amount spent by the girls = 3 girls * $90 = $270

So, the girls spent a total of $270, and the room attendant kept $20 for himself. There is no missing $10. The confusion arises because people sometimes incorrectly subtract the $20 kept by the room attendant from the total amount spent by the girls. However, these two amounts should not be added or subtracted together since they represent separate transactions.