a riddle for you??

[OJVIKE]

3 MEN GO INTO A MOTEL. THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK SAID THE ROOM IS $30, SO
EACH MAN PAID $10 AND WENT TO THE ROOM.

A WHILE LATER THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK REALIZED THE ROOM WAS ONLY $25, SO
HE SENT THE BELLBOY TO THE 3 GUYS' ROOM WITH $5.

ON THE WAY, THE BELLBOY COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPLIT $5 EVENLY
BETWEEN 3 MEN, SO HE GAVE EACH MAN A $1 AND KEPT THE OTHER $2 FOR
HIMSELF.

THIS MEANT THAT THE 3 MEN EACH PAID $9 FOR THE ROOM, WHICH IS A TOTAL OF
$27, ADD THE $2 THAT THE BELLBOY KEPT = $29.

WHERE IS THE OTHER DOLLAR?

[VikingMachine]

Red McCombs has it!

[VikingMachine]

To answer your question though, it didnt go anywhere.....

Each guy has $1 (3 x $1 = $3)
The Bellhop his $2
The Hotel clerk has $25
Thats $30.

[OJVIKE]

we have a winner!

[glg]

The correct answer is:

What motel that charges $25/night has a bellhop?

[jackal]

The correct answer is:

What motel that charges $25/night has a bellhop?

The kind where the room service fee is a hundred an hour for the "maid" to visit your room.

couldn't resist sorry

[OJVIKE]

Assume they each pd. w/ 10 $1 bills. That is 30 $1 bills total. Where are they? 25 are with the hotel, 1 is with each guy, and 2 are with the bellboy. 25+1+1+1+2=30 $1 bills. The trick is in looking at it as if the 3 guys each pd. only $9. They didn't, they each pd. $10. You don't discount the dollars returned to them.
If you discount the $3 the 3 guys got paid, then the total is $27. $25 to the hotel and $2 to the bellboy. Either way, it works. Tricky.

[Allenfreak69]

Assume they each pd. w/ 10 $1 bills. That is 30 $1 bills total. Where are they? 25 are with the hotel, 1 is with each guy, and 2 are with the bellboy. 25+1+1+1+2=30 $1 bills. The trick is in looking at it as if the 3 guys each pd. only $9. They didn't, they each pd. $10. You don't discount the dollars returned to them.
If you discount the $3 the 3 guys got paid, then the total is $27. $25 to the hotel and $2 to the bellboy. Either way, it works. Tricky.

[cstelter]

Assume they each pd. w/ 10 $1 bills. That is 30 $1 bills total. Where are they? 25 are with the hotel, 1 is with each guy, and 2 are with the bellboy. 25+1+1+1+2=30 $1 bills. The trick is in looking at it as if the 3 guys each pd. only $9. They didn't, they each pd. $10. You don't discount the dollars returned to them.
If you discount the $3 the 3 guys got paid, then the total is $27. $25 to the hotel and $2 to the bellboy. Either way, it works. Tricky.

Nothing wrong with that approach, but I don't think it gets at the root of the issue. There is nothing wrong with claiming each person only paid $9, for a total of $27. The belhop kept 2 from that $27, leaving $25 for the Motel. That's where it ends. The 'trick' is the initial question *adding* $2 to the $27 which is a meaningless computation for the sake of the problem because the belhops $2 is *part* of the $27, not to be added to the $27.

The root of the flaw is 'ADD THE $2 THAT THE BELLBOY KEPT = $29.' That's just bad math.

In the tradition of other threads over offseason (ala tv theme songs/movie quotes) how about some brain teasers.

Here's another one:

Man goes to animal auction with $100 in his pocket. left with at least 1 of each animal and exactly 100 animals in total (all complete live animals-- no halfsies . He spent the entire $100 on the 100 animals. Pricing was:

Horses $5 each
Pigs $3 each
Sheep $0.50 each

How many of each animal did he buy?

[Thaumaturgist]

84 Sheep = $42.00
11 Pigs = $33.00
5 Horses = $ 25.00

100 Animals & $100.00

or

88 Sheep = $44.00
2 Pigs = $6.00
10 Horses = $50.00

[cstelter]

84 Sheep = $42.00
11 Pigs = $33.00
5 Horses = $ 25.00

100 Animals & $100.00

or

88 Sheep = $44.00
2 Pigs = $6.00
10 Horses = $50.00

Doh, Either work, but I mistated the question via a typo-- I should have set Horses at $10 each. I think there is only one solution then. I was looking for

94 Sheep = $47
1 Pig = $3
5 horses = $50

but of course that's the solution to a question I did not correctly ask.

But here's the deal-- if you answer, you should post a *new* puzzle to keep the thread going.

I didn't make that point very clearly either...

So here's another classic:

Two statues stand at a fork in the road-- one to the right and one to the left. A sign reveals that one statue will always will be truthful while the other will always lie, but does not reveal which statue is which. You may ask only one question of one statue (which will spring to life to answer). One road leads to funville and the other to swampland. You want to go to funville. What question do you ask, and to which statue do you ask it?

Remember-- if you answer, please provide your own riddle to continue.

[OJVIKE]

ok heres 1


During the Turkish stampede in Thrace, a small detachment found itself confronted by a wide and deep river. However, they discovered a boat in which two children were rowing about. It was so small that it would only carry the two children, or one grown person.

How did the officer get himself and his 357 soldiers across the river and leave the two children finally in joint possession of their boat? And how many times need the boat pass from shore to shore?

[glg]

But here's the deal-- if you answer, you should post a *new* puzzle to keep the thread going.

Nice offseason idea! Let me answer both that are open and post a new one.

So here's another classic:

Two statues stand at a fork in the road-- one to the right and one to the left. A sign reveals that one statue will always will be truthful while the other will always lie, but does not reveal which statue is which. You may ask only one question of one statue (which will spring to life to answer). One road leads to funville and the other to swampland. You want to go to funville. What question do you ask, and to which statue do you ask it?

Which road would the other statue tell me is the way to swampland? Both will point to the road to funville.

During the Turkish stampede in Thrace, a small detachment found itself confronted by a wide and deep river. However, they discovered a boat in which two children were rowing about. It was so small that it would only carry the two children, or one grown person.

How did the officer get himself and his 357 soldiers across the river and leave the two children finally in joint possession of their boat? And how many times need the boat pass from shore to shore?

kids go across, one gets out and stays, other comes back, one soldier goes across, kid comes back. ie 4 trips for 1 soldier. repeat for each solder for a total of 1428 trips. (he should have built a bailey bridge )

Mine is a follow-on to Craig's.

I once found myself on an island that made those places look like "Romper Room." Picture, if you will, the Isle of Row, a one-acre forsaken swatch of desert in the middle of the Sea of Troubles. Despite its diminutive size, Row has no less than four kinds of people, all outwardly indistinguishable from one another. There are the members of the First Family, who always tell the truth, and the Pretenders, who never do. There are the Eccentrics, who may or may not tell the truth, depending on whim. Finally there are the Wimps, who are incapable of speaking unless they have heard one of the other kinds of people speak, and then they obsequiously chime in.
One day, as luck would have it, I found myself at the only crossroads on the island, facing four possible routes. Three Rowians stood by, milling about, and I had only two questions to ask in order to reach, as directly as possible, the fabled 100-foot Tower of Schmooze, the island's premier, albeit only, tourist attraction. What did I do?

[cstelter]

Mine is a follow-on to Craig's.

I once found myself on an island that made those places look like "Romper Room." Picture, if you will, the Isle of Row, a one-acre forsaken swatch of desert in the middle of the Sea of Troubles. Despite its diminutive size, Row has no less than four kinds of people, all outwardly indistinguishable from one another. There are the members of the First Family, who always tell the truth, and the Pretenders, who never do. There are the Eccentrics, who may or may not tell the truth, depending on whim. Finally there are the Wimps, who are incapable of speaking unless they have heard one of the other kinds of people speak, and then they obsequiously chime in.
One day, as luck would have it, I found myself at the only crossroads on the island, facing four possible routes. Three Rowians stood by, milling about, and I had only two questions to ask in order to reach, as directly as possible, the fabled 100-foot Tower of Schmooze, the island's premier, albeit only, tourist attraction. What did I do?

Erm, 1acre of desert isn't really so big that you couldn't see a 100 foot tower. So I'd just skip the roads and hoof it directly toward the tower without asking any questions. But somehow I doubt that's the answer.

So If I ask 1 question, do all 3 Rowians reply, or can I only ask one of them a question and then another one (or same one) a 2nd question?

[glg]

Erm, 1acre of desert isn't really so big that you couldn't see a 100 foot tower. So I'd just skip the roads and hoof it directly toward the tower without asking any questions. But somehow I doubt that's the answer.

Nope, that's exactly right. Ignore them all and walk right to the tower