Post deleted by R0cketer

[phs_basketball]

they ended up paying 25 for the room 2 for the bell hop 3in their pockets that equal 30

[PVVikeFan]

But each man paid 9 once thet had 1 back

[imported_ndn10]

ur not getting the point they got a 5 dollar discount. they payed 25. its about 8.33 a person. not 9 dollars. they got a buck back.

[33_phs_33]

that's the reason it's so hard...the way the joke is told..it tricks u [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[phs_basketball]

[sic]

all they ended up paying was 25 dollars.....

[sic]

ok....they pay $30...get 5 back so that's 25....they get 3 back..thats 28..the bell boy keeps 2...thats 30

[imported_bookworm]

Well. let's look at the initial situation. Each man pays $10 for the hotel room, the hotel gets $30, and the bellboy has nothing. Now, when everything has settled, each man has paid $9 for the hotel room (a total of $27), the hotel got $25, and the bellboy got $2. So what went wrong?

Actually, this is not a math problem at all, but a mathematical example of the classical magical principle of misdirection. The problem glibly states "which is a total of $27.00; plus the $2.00 the Bell Boy pocketed", which is a meaningless calculation, but serves to distract you from the correct calculation. The correct calculation would be "which is a total of $27.00; including the $2.00 the Bell Boy pocketed". This way you can see that the difference is $25, the price of the room. The misdirection works because the answer it provides is close to something you expect (the original $30).
I could ask why you are adding amounts spent and amounts received. The men spent $27, the bellboy received $2. Let's look at the total amounts spent and received. The men initially spent $10 each, for a total of $30. The hotel received the $30, but only kept $25, returning the other $5, so the hotel received $25. The bellboy received $2 (apparently a carrying charge!), and the men each received a $1 refund (for a total of $3). Seen this way, the men spent $30, and the hotel received $25, the bellboy received $2, and the men received $3, for a total received of $30.
If we wanted to get more complicated, the men spent $30 on the room, which the hotel received. The hotel then spent $5 on the refund, of which the bellboy received $2 and the men received $3. Then the total spent is $35 ($30 by the men and $5 by the hotel), and the total received is $35 ($30 by the hotel, $2 by the bellboy, and $3 by the men as a refund).

[33_phs_33]

and after reading that LONG post..if u dont understand it..i don't think there is any hope for ya [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]