how is this possible??? 
Three men went to a hotel and asked for a room together. The receptionist said that the room was £30.00 for the three of them, so they payed 10 pounds each. When the men were in their room the receptionist realised that she had charged them too much, and the correct price for the room was £25.00, so she sent the bell boy up with the 5 pounds and on the way he decided he would take 2 of the five pounds, leaving 3 and that meant it could be split evenly between the three men. So the three men got thir 5 three pounds back ( 1 pound each ) and in total they had spent 9 pounds each, so 9 times 3 =27 so alltogether they had spent 27 pounds, add the bell boys 2 pounds makes 29 pounds so where is the other pound gone if it was 30 pounds at the start???
That’s easy. There is no 27 (3 x 9). That’s a fictitious number. It doesn’t exist.
In fact, the men spent 25. They got back 3 and the bellboy kept two. 25 plus 3 plus 2 is 30. No 27 involved.
"That’s easy. There is no 27 (3 x 9). That’s a fictitious number. It doesn’t exist. "
That’s right.
But, what I want to know is why 3 men asked for a room together - were they going to unify? 
Why is this in Rec? Shouldn’t it be in JC?
Anyway, I think that riddle works better if it is said rather then read, with seeing the numbers I think it’s easer to figure out.
It’s order of operations.
3(10-1) +2 = 29
3 men paid 9 dollars (I’m Americanizing your riddle) each, plus 2 the bell boy kept is indeed 29 dollars.
3*10 - 3 - 2 = 25
3 men paid 10 dollars originally. They each got 1 back, and the bell boy took 2. This accounts for all the money.
P arenthesis
E xponents
M ultiplication
D ivision
A ddition
S ubtraction
!
Dave:D
Edit… next time, post something like this in JC, and a string of question marks does not constitute a title.
Why did three men want to share a hotel room anyway?
Re: ???
“fcwegnm0b” <fcwegnm0b@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> 3(10-1) +2 = 29
I don’t really get it. The relevant equation is
3(10-1) = 25+2
No problem.
Moved to JC…
They pay 30, get 5 back, which makes 25. Bellboy pays himself 2, which makes 27… 9 times 3 is 27… What’s the problem?
When most people hear this riddle, they try to reason it out as each paid 9, which is not true. You have it right Gilby, each pays 10. Your problem is 27 + 2 = 29, not 30.
The riddle fails to work when you think about each man paying 9 dollars - you come up short 1. It’s the order you do it!
Innes - I think they wanted to burn in the everlasting lake of fire… Fred Phelps is my new hero…
Dave