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tacres's avatar

This is a mathmatical equation that cannot supposedly be solved.

Asked by tacres (559points) May 10th, 2012

I can’t remember where I first read this but I thought it was neat.I am sure there are various versions, but the math stays the same.

3 people go to a vacation park & rent a cabin. The desk clerk told the people that the fee was $30.00 per day. They split the cost by each paying $10.00. After they went to the cabin the clerk realized that it was a mid-week rental so he should have only charged them $25.00 for the cabin. He realized that he didn’t have enough change to split the $5.00 refund by 3 so he put $2.00 in his pocket & gave each one back $1.00. So instead of paying $10.00 apiece for the room they each paid $9.00.
Now 3×9 = 27.00 + the $2.00 the desk clerk kept makes the total $29.00. What happened to the missing dollar?
I understand that working it out the other way , $25.00 + $2.00 + $3.00 = $30.00 makes sense but why doesn’t it the first way?

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5 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

the 3 quid missing to thirty are the 3 he already gave back. you need to subtract 2 from 27 to get to the 25 the room cost.

LostInParadise's avatar

They paid $30 and got back $3, so the room cost them $27. You can’t add the $2 to the $27, because the $2 is part of the $27. The other part is the $25 actual cost for the room.

6rant6's avatar

27 + 2 has no meaning. 27 – 2 is the amount given to the owner (25).

whitenoise's avatar

Because the2 dollar is part of the 27 dollar paid already.

The thirty dollar paid is the old situation, not the new one. It equates to 27 dollars paid (25 cabin + 2 change due) + 3 dollars returned.

tacres's avatar

Okay , when you explain it like that I get it. You all took the fun out of it…... but I get it now. I think.

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