[HONGTN]

Alright, so heres a little brainteaser:

Three guys go to a hotel and each rents out a room for $10/room. (3 x $10)
When they leave, they pay for the three rooms, so in total they spent $30


The hotel clerk forgot about a special they had, so gives he the belboy(?) $5 and askes him to give it back to them.
But then the belboy decides that since the three guys didn't know about the special anyways, he dicides to keep $2.
The belboy returnes only $3 to the three guys....

Now, the real question is, if they spent $30 in total, and got back $3...

$30-$3=$27 is what they spent in total


and if the belboy kept $2
$27+$2=$29


SO, what happened to the OTHER dollar??

[nobody knows]

he lost it.


No, I'm just kidding.

it's because of the order of operations is supposed to take place, and you (the riddle creator?) did the math wrong

30 - 3 = 27 + 2 = 29
=> 30 - 3 + 2

it's supposed to be
30 - 5 = 25
2 + 3 = 5 + 25 = 30
=> 25 + (2 + 3) = 30


I guess

[HONGTN]

^lol, i didnt make it up, its supposed to be like that......to confuse you

[thuylinh]

it's a trick answear and if the belboy kept $2 - $27+$2=$29

the hotel clerk taking 25$ and gives back 5$: 25$+5$=30$
the belboy keping 2$ changes nothing! ^o^

[nobody knows]

^lol, i didnt make it up, its supposed to be like that......to confuse you

yeah I know
I heard it a few years back
it's supposed to be

"you (or the rid..."

I guess ._.

[HERMIT]

Without going into the error in the mathematical representation, one can just logically explain it by viewing it from the perspective of the travellers:

The guys originally spent $30, they got $3 back. From their perspective, they spent $27: $25 for the special and $2 for the "phantom tip" the bellboy took for himself. Obviously, there is no missing dollar.

[girl3744]

The trick is to do the math backward to get the math wrong and confused! Here's what I came up with after struggling for a while!

$30 paid to the clerk
$5 refund
30-5=25

The boy took $2 and refund them $3

So the math is $25+$3=$28 plus the $2 from the boy, the total equals to $30. Nothing is missing~

In the wrong math (trick) is to do it the other way around.
30-3=27+2=29

Even 10 still results there as well
10-3=7+2=9

[GOOMBA]

Without going into the error in the mathematical representation, one can just logically explain it by viewing it from the perspective of the travellers:

That's what I figured too when I heard this the first time.

[Korowa]

Yeah... nothing but orders of operation. Although it does make it sound confusing. Since you're subtracting and adding back...