Alright so three people on a cross-country road trip decide they need to spend a night at a motel. They come across this quaint motel, and walk in. The man on duty says all together it'll be 30 dollars. So each person chips in and pays 10 dollars.

A few hours later the hotel manager checks by and learns they actually overcharged these 3 people a total of 5 dollars, so he sends the employee to give them back their 5 dollars. The employee a tad disgruntled pockets 2 dollars.

.................................................. ......................
-So it is safe to say since the motel returned 3 dollars, each person paid 9 dollars.
-Orginally each person paid 10 dollars, totaling to 30 dollars.
-And the employee pocketed 2 dollars.

$10 X $3 = $30
$9 X 3 = $27 + $2 = $29

So where did that one dollar go?

I don't understand this... It's pretty obvious that there's no "missing dollar". After the overcharge was realized, the people paid $25 for the room, the bellhop stole $2, and the other $3 were returned to the people... It seems odd that they could do the math so deceptively as to make it seem wrong.

I don't understand this... It's pretty obvious that there's no "missing dollar". After the overcharge was realized, the people paid $25 for the room, the bellhop stole $2, and the other $3 were returned to the people... It seems odd that they could do the math so deceptively as to make it seem wrong.


Why did the first response not only be painfully too realistic to read, ruin the minor humor involved, but also be 100% correct?

It seems there is a dollar missing because of the way the problem is worded.


Alright so three people on a cross-country road trip decide they need to spend a night at a motel. They come across this quaint motel, and walk in. The man on duty says all together it'll be 30 dollars. So each person chips in and pays 10 dollars.

A few hours later the hotel manager checks by and learns they actually overcharged these 3 people a total of 5 dollars, so he sends the employee to give them back their 5 dollars. The employee a tad disgruntled pockets 2 dollars.

.................................................. ......................
-So it is safe to say since the motel returned 3 dollars, each person paid 9 dollars.
-Orginally each person paid 10 dollars, totaling to 30 dollars.
-And the employee pocketed 2 dollars.

$10 X $3 = $30
$9 X 3 = $27 + $2 = $29

So where did that one dollar go?
They start out paying $10 each or $30.

There is a $5 overcharge.

$25 + $5 = $30

When they got money back they were now paying for the room and the bellboy's unknown tip.

$25 + $3 + $2 = $30

They paid 3 X $9 = $27 + 3 X $1 = $30


Room = $25 divided by 3 or 8.33 each

Unknonw tip to bellhop = $2 of .67 each

Each man paid $8.33 + .67 and had $1 left

Their is no missing dollar

Obviously it is intended to be wrong via the way it is worded.


Hence the riddle part, I think.

My mind is melting!

Why did the first response not only be painfully too realistic to read, ruin the minor humor involved, but also be 100% correct?
What's that in your signature about grammatical errors again? :p

Frogger - thanks for explaining why it's wrong.... I knew it was wrong but couldn't put it into words in a way that made sense.

Here's something interesting... I just googled this riddle and here's a fun response:
The following night two friends check into the same motel. Once again the clerk charges them $30, or $15 per person. After the clerk remembers the total rate is only $25 he sends the bellhop upstairs with five $1 bills to pay the two friends back. The bellhop knows he got away with larceny once so he tries it again. But this time he pockets $3 and returns $2 to the hotel guests ($1 per guest). So each of the two guests got $1 back from their original $15. Therefore each paid $14 which is a total payment of $28 for the room. Now the bellhop has $3, the guests paid $28, for a total of $31....THERE'S THE MISSING DOLLAR!!!!

What's that in your signature about grammatical errors again? :p

Frogger - thanks for explaining why it's wrong.... I knew it was wrong but couldn't put it into words in a way that made sense.

I'm not all that bright.

Atleast me no think so.



Interesting reply which you obtained from the internet. If only you posted that first, you might have made the thread funnier. Instead I believe you have corrupted my soul so I may never laugh again.

Corruption of souls is one of my hobbies.

Corruption of souls is one of my hobbies.


Honest to god, I thought your reply would have been...



"If only I had a nickel for everytime I've corrupted someone's soul."

Well I'd only have like a dollar... OK maybe $2...

Statistically speaking you are either (a):

-Politican
-Teacher
-Psychologist
-Therapist
-An over 'active' mother
-Or working at Fox, even if you're an intern at Fox, you corrupt like two dozen souls a day.

Well I do want to be a college professor... And when I'm a mother I'd say my style will be anything but "overactive". Being a psychologist/therapist is something that I also might enjoy.

The others are way off though. I would never be a politician, nor would I ever work at Fox...

NO NOT PSYCHOLOGY.

It will ruin your life.

The University of Boston took 8 years examining 5,000+ surveys they handed out to high school females and finally made the breakthrough:
"You're weight or Body Mass Index is indirectly porportional to that person's popularity."

Shoot me. Please.
The BBC recently reported a new study shows that stomuch aches are now an early sign of depression.

Psychology sucks.
Please.
I literally make speeches advising people to not become psychologists.
I also make public speeches supporting a rumor that I have gone missing, it makes doing my taxes much easier.

The University of Boston took 8 years examining 5,000+ surveys they handed out to high school females and finally made the breakthrough:
"You're weight or Body Mass Index is indirectly porportional to that person's popularity."

Shoot me. Please.
The BBC recently reported a new study shows that stomuch aches are now an early sign of depression.
I'm sure that's not the only conclusion the University of Boston reached..

And what's your point about the BBC study? I think that's a very interesting finding, although not particular surprising, considering that we often project our mental pains onto our bodies... I believe the word for these ailments is psychosomatic.

(P.S. It's spelled "stomach"... And please learn the difference between "you're" and "your". That's probably my biggest pet peeve.)

I'm sure that's not the only conclusion the University of Boston reached..

And what's your point about the BBC study? I think that's a very interesting finding, although not particular surprising, considering that we often project our mental pains onto our bodies... I believe the word for these ailments is psychosomatic.

(P.S. It's spelled "stomach"... And please learn the difference between "you're" and "your". That's probably my biggest pet peeve.)

No, I'm narrow minded.

I don't like people using the words "effect" and "affect" in the wrong context. That conclusion of the University of Boston was big enough to be reported by the NYTimes, I learned that in 9th grade. It didn't take me 8 years and more than a million dollars to figure that out.

The stomach ache thing is redundant, kids over eat and thus get stomach aches. McDonalds might as well be sued because of discomfortant.

I don't know, when I talked about these things with my friends we all tend to agree and add our own little joke to it. I wonder if I need new friends.

I'm lonely sometimes.

So the fact that overeating gives children stomach aches somehow makes it redundant that having frequent stomach aches can be an indication of depression? I'm afraid I don't understand.

You still didn't tell me whether that "8 year study" made any other conclusions. In fact I'm sure that it did. Even if it were, studies like that are important because there have been studies in the past that disproved such "common knowledge". Just because we believe that something is obvious doesn't make it true, and it's important to research such things to either prove or disprove them.

So the fact that overeating gives children stomach aches somehow makes it redundant that having frequent stomach aches can be an indication of depression? I'm afraid I don't understand.

You still didn't tell me whether that "8 year study" made any other conclusions. In fact I'm sure that it did. Even if it were, studies like that are important because there have been studies in the past that disproved such "common knowledge". Just because we believe that something is obvious doesn't make it true, and it's important to research such things to either prove or disprove them.

I'm growing, tired my apologies.
Overeating in Children is as common as coughing is to elderly people. Children act like Children, they find pleasure in eating (some may theorize it is because at a young age they find pleasure through their lips, also breast feeding may contribute to the fact) and like anything that is good you lose common sense on when to stop, that goes double for children who already start off with a lack of any sense, let alone 'common'.

I'm goggling to try and relocate my article, although I am not having any luck... I really want to find that article. God damn.

I f'in hate goggle.
I think I may be done for the day.
Stick a fork in me, I'm done.