Three guys walk into a hotel, and they're going to split the cost of a room. The room is £30. They each kick in £10 and head up to their room. The manager gets wind of it and tells the clerk the room is only £25. He hands five £1 notes to the bell hop and tells him to go refund the guys' money. On the way up to the room, the bell hop gets to thinking, as bell hops are wont to do, and says to himself, "No way can three guys split £5, I'm going to help out." He stuffs £2 in his pocket, knocks on the door, gives each guy back a quid and heads back downstairs to the desk, glowing in the warmth of a job well done. So now each guy has paid £9.
£9 times 3 is £27 plus the two the bell hop stole--only £29! Where is the other quid?
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3 comments:
The last statement is designed to confuse. £9 x 3 = £27, +2 = 29 -> missing £1. What it should say is £9 x 3 = £27 (includes the £2 the bellhop has - it came out of their £9). The other £3 are in their pockets after their refund.
The key thing is that the maths needs to forget what the bellhop has as it's already been counted in their £9.
I took this to two maths teachers, a computer teacher and one science teacher (among others) who couldn't get it. One of the maths teachers had even seen it before and claimed there was no solution (but I think he may be a bit slow-he's canadian after all).
Of the various people I tried it on, only some Korean and Japanese 10th Graders (who loved it) and the Chinese Indonesian school accountant managed to get the correct answer. The accountant thought this was fantastic.
Interestingly, the Western kids tried to argue with the question or think the manager had stolen extra cash. They just couldn't get it at all.
Canadians slow? Must be from the east coast (the one closest to Scotland)
It makes a good comprehension test though as there's only a problem if you accept the last statement as true.
In my version there's more storytelling sleight of hand featuring an episode hookers conjoined at the head, hidden treasure, and a dildo
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