• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:41
CEST 23:41
KST 06:41
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 231ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 29-July 5): Solar Doubles0MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon415.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes40Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch5[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation0
StarCraft 2
General
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2 Is the larve respawn broken? 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) 5.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes Weekly Cups (June 29-July 5): Solar Doubles
Tourneys
Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League GSL CK #5 Race War HomeStory Cup 29 RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 533 Die Together The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery
Brood War
General
Snow On New ASL S22 Map, Zerg Nerf ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Starcraft vs Retro Category on Twitch
Tourneys
CSLAN 4 is Coming! Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 The Casual Games of the Week Thread [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread Summer Games Done Quick 2026! ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Major Shifts in the Gaming I…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 5882 users

Riddle

Blogs > nAi.PrOtOsS
Post a Reply
Normal
nAi.PrOtOsS
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Canada784 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-15 23:55:40
August 15 2008 23:54 GMT
#1
I think this riddle deserves a blog, since my advanced and extremely intelligent brain could not comprehend what happened.

It's better if you don't write anything out, and just think about it in your head.

Ok 3 guys go to a motel for a night, one night at the hotel cost's 30$ so the 3 guys split the cost and pay 10$ each.

The motel has a screw up and was supposed to charge them 25$ and not 30$, so they give a bell boy 5$ to split between the 3 guys. The bell boy, decides to be fair and give each guy 1$ of the 5$ and keep 2$ himself, so it is fair.

So if each guy pays 10$ but get 1$ back they have paid a total of 9$.

What happened to the missing 1$?

*
ketomai
Profile Joined June 2007
United States2789 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-16 00:04:06
August 15 2008 23:58 GMT
#2
Because they aren't supposed to give the bellboy 5$, the hotel has to give THEM 5$ in change. Or something along those lines.

edit: oops brain fart.
GrayArea
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States872 Posts
August 16 2008 00:00 GMT
#3
The motel has $25. Each of the guys has $1 (so total of $3). The bell boy has $2.

25 + 3 + 2 = 30.

What missing dollar?
Kang Min Fighting!
nAi.PrOtOsS
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Canada784 Posts
August 16 2008 00:01 GMT
#4
9 X 3 = 27 +2 from the bell boy = 29
JeeJee
Profile Blog Joined July 2003
Canada5652 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-16 00:05:04
August 16 2008 00:01 GMT
#5
err what, how is this a riddle

the hotel's books:
+30
-5
___
+25

the people's books *3
-10
+1
___
-9

the bellboy
+2
__
+2

+25 - 27 +2 = 0.. lol?

edit: @above post
wtf why would you add 27 to 2?
(\o/)  If you want it, you find a way. Otherwise you find excuses. No exceptions.
 /_\   aka Shinbi (requesting a name change since 27/05/09 ☺)
funkie
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Venezuela9376 Posts
August 16 2008 00:09 GMT
#6
TAXES.

Har I win.
CJ Entusman #6! · Strength is the basis of athletic ability. -Rippetoe /* http://j.mp/TL-App <- TL iPhone App 2.0! */
nAi.PrOtOsS
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Canada784 Posts
August 16 2008 00:10 GMT
#7
Because each guy has paid a total of 9$ 3 guys paying 9$ so

9 X 3 = 27

and then the bellboy has recieved a total of 2$ so

27 + 2 = 29

So your 1$ short :s
obloquy
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States265 Posts
August 16 2008 00:15 GMT
#8
At the end of the problem, the money is distributed as follows:

3 guys: 3 dollars.
Bell Boy: 2 dollars.
Hotel : 25 dollars.

The problem is that you are thinking of it as them originally paying 9, when that is simply not the case.
That was an unknown unknown.
ketomai
Profile Joined June 2007
United States2789 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-16 00:16:37
August 16 2008 00:15 GMT
#9
bleh w/e I s uck.
Hitokiri
Profile Blog Joined February 2003
Spain306 Posts
August 16 2008 00:18 GMT
#10
The problem is he is assuming that the problem is solved by multiplication, which is not the case.

3 + 2 + 25 = 30
255 255 255 552 255 255 255 522 52255 553
fonger
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
United Kingdom1218 Posts
August 16 2008 00:18 GMT
#11
On August 16 2008 09:10 nAi.PrOtOsS wrote:
Because each guy has paid a total of 9$ 3 guys paying 9$ so

9 X 3 = 27

and then the bellboy has recieved a total of 2$ so

27 + 2 = 29

So your 1$ short :s

The guys paid a total of $27 (3 * $9). $25 went to the hotel, and $2 went to the bellboy.
crazie-penguin
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States1253 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-16 00:20:35
August 16 2008 00:19 GMT
#12
This riddle has been discussed here already. Its just a little trick, that makes you do your math wrong, nothing happened to the dollar. the hotel has 25, each guy has 3, the boy has 2.

EDIT:oops i mustve opened this thread in tabs like last or something
bm
Profile Joined August 2008
14 Posts
August 16 2008 00:20 GMT
#13
pretty low level brain you have
Deleted User 31996
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
843 Posts
August 16 2008 00:26 GMT
#14
worst irddle ever
ShmotZ
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States581 Posts
August 16 2008 00:27 GMT
#15
OK 3 guys split 30$ motel

30/3 = 10$ each so they each pay 10

then it turns out the hotel is actually 25$ but they already payed 5$

so its 30-25= 5 change or w/e

5 gets split between the 3 guys so its 1$ to each guy giving them 1/1/1

5-3 = 2

and 2 goes to the bellboy so there is no change.....

cause either way there still paying 30$ for the room but only getting 3$ back cause the bell boys a faggot there is no missing dollar ._.
Ah, computer dating. It's like pimping, but you rarely have to use the phrase "upside your head." - Bender
WindCalibur
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Canada938 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-16 00:36:06
August 16 2008 00:35 GMT
#16
You start with 10 dollars that each boy have.

After they pay:
Hotel: 30
Bell: 0
3 boys: 0-0-0
Total: 30

After hotel gives bell boy:
Hotel: 25
Bell: 5
3 boys: 0-0-0
Total: 30

After bell boy gives the 3 people:
Hotel: 25
Bell: 2
3 boys: 1-1-1
Total: 30

What you thought wrong was this:
The 3 boys payed 10 at the beginning while the hotel was suppose to accept 25. Then later, the 3 boys received 1 dollar back each. So in total, they payed 27 dollars. Since the hotel was suppose to accept 25, the extra 2 dollars that was accepted by the hotel was given to the bell boy.

HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND!

*And this took me 1 minute to realize that your math equation was badly thought out.
nAi.PrOtOsS
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Canada784 Posts
August 16 2008 00:48 GMT
#17
Yes i understood from the start, i was just trying to show u how most people would think it thru, but it's much trickyer if you do it in your head quickly, because you get 29 and not 30 and cant figure out where u went wrong
Ender
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
United States294 Posts
August 16 2008 00:49 GMT
#18
Everybody's explanation is fine, but nobody's pointed to exactly where your mistake is.

Your mistake is the fact that the equation 27+2=29 is gibberish. The 2 dollars that the bellboy gets are part of the 27 dollars you see, so it's like 25(to the hotel) + 2(to the bellboy) + 1 + 1 +1 (back to each boy) = 30. But if you do 27+2 = 25+2+2=29 then you've taken into account the $2 the bellboy gets twice. So you've invented an extra 2 dollars and added it to the amount the hotel gets plus what the bellboy gets, which is nonsense.
The beatings will continue until the morale improves.
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States44181 Posts
August 16 2008 01:25 GMT
#19
On August 16 2008 09:10 nAi.PrOtOsS wrote:
Because each guy has paid a total of 9$ 3 guys paying 9$ so

9 X 3 = 27

and then the bellboy has recieved a total of 2$ so

27 + 2 = 29

So your 1$ short :s

You shouldn't be adding 2 to 27.
Each guy has paid 9 so

9x3 = 27

Of that 27 the bellboy has 2 so

27-2 = 25

Of that 25 the hotel has 25 so

25-25=0
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
HeavOnEarth
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States7087 Posts
August 16 2008 13:38 GMT
#20
On August 16 2008 09:48 nAi.PrOtOsS wrote:
Yes i understood from the start, i was just trying to show u how most people would think it thru, but it's much trickyer if you do it in your head quickly, because you get 29 and not 30 and cant figure out where u went wrong


*cricket sound*
"come korea next time... FXO house... 10 korean, 10 korean"
nAi.PrOtOsS
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Canada784 Posts
August 16 2008 14:40 GMT
#21
On August 16 2008 22:38 HeavOnEarth wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 16 2008 09:48 nAi.PrOtOsS wrote:
Yes i understood from the start, i was just trying to show u how most people would think it thru, but it's much trickyer if you do it in your head quickly, because you get 29 and not 30 and cant figure out where u went wrong


*cricket sound*


**cricket sound**
slained
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Canada966 Posts
August 16 2008 16:00 GMT
#22
each guy paid, 10 dollars, so thats 3 * 10 = 30
but since the cost is 25 dollars, when the bell boy is given the 5 dollars
each person should've ideally paid 25/3 dollars to the hotel, $8.33. Or each person is sharing the cost of 25 dollars (8.33*3 + 5 dollars from the refund).

When the bell boy is giving the dollar back to the guys, they've each paid $9.33 (NOT $9) and the bell boy being paid the $2 from the left over money from the $.66 (*3). So the excess 33 cents from each guy * 3 adds up to the 1 dollar.

If you look at this another way. Each person paid 10 dollars, and was refunded 1 dollar. Totallying 9 dollars each person. The people pay 9*3 dollars to the hotel. Totally 27 dollars. Giving 2 dollars to the Bell Boy, because the fee is 25 dollars.

It simply DOES NOT MAKE SENSE to say that they were refunded 30 dollars and each have paid 9 dollars when they each get refunded 1 dollar, because THEY DIDNT PAY 9 dollars each collectively to the motel!

Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
17:00
Mid Season Playoffs
ArT vs HarstemLIVE!
Krystianer vs Iba
SteadfastSC202
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 608
SteadfastSC 202
ViBE20
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 1676
ggaemo 158
910 34
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm139
Counter-Strike
summit1g2261
fl0m1725
minikerr4
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King76
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu359
Other Games
Grubby3404
RotterdaM206
C9.Mang0150
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick37494
BasetradeTV378
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• imaqtpie914
• Shiphtur385
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
2h 19m
Replay Cast
12h 19m
CrankTV Team League
13h 19m
OSC
15h 19m
Big Brain Bouts
18h 19m
Replay Cast
1d 2h
RSL Revival
1d 11h
Serral vs Bunny
ByuN vs GgMaChine
CranKy Ducklings
1d 12h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 12h
Snow vs Jaedong
YSC vs hero
RSL Revival
2 days
Solar vs Rogue
Maru vs NightMare
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
GSL
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Heroes Pulsing #3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W2
ASL Season 22: Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Eternal Conflict S2 E2
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.