This month's puzzle -- Where'd the Money Go? --
is something that's been floating around for at least 35 years that we know
of. The amounts used in the puzzle should give that away. ...
Three women go to an overnight conference, but they arrive
late at their hotel. When they check in, the night clerk is already on
duty. He gives them a room for three -- 52B -- and charges them $30
for the night.
In the morning, when the day clerk comes on
duty, he checks the register and notices that the three women paid $30,
when, in fact, because of special arrangements for a bargain rate made with
the conference host, they should have been charged only $25.
At
that point, the day clerk calls a bellhop over. "Listen," he
says. "The women in 52B overpaid. They were supposed to
have been charged the conference rate. Take this," he says,
handing the bellhop a $5 bill, "and give it to them with my
apologies."
The bellhop takes the $5 bill and goes to
the elevator. On the way up, he begins to think, in that peculiarly
human fashion. 'Listen,' he says to himself. 'This
won't work. I'll give them the $5, but there's no way to split it
evenly among three people. I have a better idea,' at which point,
he decides on the following.
'I'll just keep
two dollars for my trouble and give them back three. That way, they
can split it up evenly, and I can make a little on the side. Besides,
they'll be happy. After all, they're not expecting any money back.'
So
the bellhop goes up to 52B, knocks on the door, and when one of the women
answer, he hands over three dollars. "Sorry," he says.
"But you were mistakenly overcharged for the conference."
The woman takes the three dollars, keeps one, and gives each of her other
roommates one. So ...
After receiving $1 apiece back,
the women each ended up paying $9 for the room ... which means they paid a
total of $27 in all.
The bellhop pocketed $2 for his
'trouble'.
The $27 the women paid plus the $2 the bellhop
kept makes $29 total. ...
What happened to the
other dollar?
Note: See subsequent
issues for results. [Ed]
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