This'll Have you confused for hours

[Lee85]

Figure this out:
Three men in a hotel call room service and order two large pizzas. The delivery boy brings them up with a bill for exactly $30. Each man gives him a $10 bill, and he leaves.
When the delivery boy hands the $30 to the cashier, he is told that a mistake has been made. The bill was only $25, not $30. The cashier gives the deliver boy five dollar bills and tells him to take it back to the three men who ordered the pizza.
on his way back to their room, the delivery boy has a thought ... these men did not give him a tip. He figures that since there is no way to split $5 evenly three ways he will keep two dollars for himself and give them back three dollars.
He knocks on the door and one of the men answers. The boy explains about the mix-up with the bill, and hands the man three dollars, then departs with his two-dollar tip in his pocket.
Now the fun begins:
$30 - $25 = $5. Correct? $5 - $3 = $2. Correct?
So, what's the problem? All is well, right? Not quite. Answer this:
Each of the three men originally gave $10 each. They each got back $1 in change. That means they paid $9 each, which times three is $27 The delivery boy kept $2 for a tip.
Where's the other doller??

[Lee85]

no one knows the answer?? :)

[Artistdude88]

did the cashier eat it? lol, i dunno

[MillwallBadBoy]

LOL@Artist I have no idea either, did you eat it Lee? :-P

[Lee85]

i dunno the answer myself?? lol :D

[beerbelly]

there's no ans to that. if i remeber right, i heard that a few years back and this friend of mine whos a mathematician never did get to solve it....well, kinda. he tried using some kind of formulas and he just came to conclude that theres no ans to it. (am i making sense?) =Þ

[jeaniesing]

It all has to do with whether you are using a system based on 1 or a system based on zero..... right??? (Thank God I teach music..... I'm printing and taking to the math department in the AM!!!!)

[Lee85]

i think you use standard money as far as the 0 or 1 based system goes - Lee

[ZelRiptha]

A variation of this problem came up in the riddle thread. There's a trick to it.

From the point of view of the men:
-$10 + $1 = -$9
x 3
----------------
-$30 + $3 = -$27

This is fine.

From the point of view of the pizza store:
+$30 - $5 = $25

This is fine.

From the point of view of the delivery guy:
+$30 -$25(given to store) -$3(given to men) + $0(tip) = $2(kept)

The trick is merely convincing the reader to accept the fact that the $27 the men spent on the pizzas plus the $2 the delivery guy took ought to be $30, when in fact those numbers are not directly related. In fact if you look at the numbers above, the delivery man did dole out $28 out of the $30 he originally received ($25 to the store, and $3 to the guys). And $28 plus the $2 he kept add nicely up to $30.

Follow that? :)

[Artistdude88]

uhhhhh....u lost me from the beggining.....o well :p

[Donnie Darko]

Uhhhhhhhh....

[lostdave]

ZR,
But that doesn't explain the simple fact of matamatical wizadry that has gone on here......

We start with 3 Guys @ $10 each = $30
should have been $25 yes?? so that leaves us with $5
so the Pizza store gets their $25..all is good in the world...then we get back to the men...

$10 - $1 = $9..there is is no disputing that...
$9 X 3 = $27...
that leaves us with $3...

the numbers are still related......

I don't get it??

Dave
(And I thought I was intelligent :hit: )

Dave

[dstruct2k]

Ok, the $2 remaining should be SUBTRACTED from the $27, not added.
Remember -
$9 each X 3 guys = $27 total
The $27 is what was given to the delivery boy.
Only $25 was needed, so he pocketed the extra $2.
You see, you are just trying to confuse the reader into thinking that you should ADD the $2.

Very confusing, glad I understand it now.

[dstruct2k]

Dave, don't post when I'm typing! :D

[beerbelly]

uhuhmmmm.....too much info.....me getting dizzy....:confused2

[ZelRiptha]

This is the critical part:

Originally posted by ZelRiptha

From the point of view of the delivery guy:
+$30 -$25(given to store) -$3(given to men) = $2(kept)


$28 is the amount the delivery guy gave away ($25 to the shop, $3 to the guys). The $2 left over makes the total of $30.

Put another way, as Dstruct did, the delivery guy received a net amount of $27, where only $25 was required, he kept the extra $2.

Either way works, but neither is the way the problem is stated. :)

[ZelRiptha]

Originally posted by lostdave
ZR,
But that doesn't explain the simple fact of matamatical wizadry that has gone on here......

We start with 3 Guys @ $10 each = $30
should have been $25 yes?? so that leaves us with $5
so the Pizza store gets their $25..all is good in the world...then we get back to the men...

$10 - $1 = $9..there is is no disputing that...
$9 X 3 = $27...
that leaves us with $3...

the numbers are still related......

I don't get it??

Dave
(And I thought I was intelligent :hit: )

Dave

Let me follow you and show where it goes south.


$10 - $1 = $9..there is is no disputing that...
$9 X 3 = $27...

At this point, you should say he's taken $27, but he only needed $25, so he's keeping the extra $2.

The $3 is an illusion, and actually is the $3 given back to the men. At this point in the story, it has nothing to do with the delivery guy, except to represent the rest of the original $30.

It's kinda like seeing one of those 3D illusion pictures, once you see it, it's clear, but seeing it isn't easy. :)

[jeaniesing]

Intelligent menfolk are always SUCH a turn on ;).... My favorite show as a kid was "McGyver".... then later it was "The Pretender".... Now its this thread!

[ZelRiptha]

Now if I could just make a radio homing device out of a matchstick and some twine... ;)

[jeaniesing]

If anyone can - it'd be you ZR ;)

[MillwallBadBoy]

I'll tell you guys something, Lee was right, it got you all baffled :)

[Lee85]

lol didnt think it was gonna get that many replies though :-P

[Ralph'e']

my brain hurts- but i have a feeling the "order two large pizzas" is a big important clue~

[starlight4599]

i've seen one of those b4....sooo confusing..still don't understand

[rknrne]

Man that made me so hungry. I started licking my fingers and noticed I had 11 fingers...10,9,8,7,6, on one hand and 5 on the other =11 going for a snack

[ZelRiptha]

Originally posted by rknrne
Man that made me so hungry. I started licking my fingers and noticed I had 11 fingers...10,9,8,7,6, on one hand and 5 on the other =11 going for a snack

Heh! Clever one, you! :D

[Ralph'e']

HA! I solved it!

you -3 right? u also -2 (the tip) not add 2.

therefore 30 -3 -2 = 25..

its not "wheres the other dollar gone" but "the other 5 dollars".. and that was givn to the delivery boys work!

HA!

[LadyPain]

WOW! I got it now! That was very confusing! There should be more riddles like that! I love riddles!

[Elven]

hmm. What is this? Math class? I come here to get AWAY from that sort of thing.

[JonPaulP]

is this math!?!? or a joke LOL

[§ereña]

i suggest we all go out for a pizza ;)

[Elven]

Sounds good. Who's buying? I want mushrooms.

[ermines]

Originally posted by LadyPain
WOW! I got it now! That was very confusing! There should be more riddles like that! I love riddles!


try this one, there's an answer already, though
http://board.midibuddy.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=218268#post218268

[ermines]

and another one...

http://board.midibuddy.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44873

[M.O.T.E.]

I knew that....:rolleyes:

Thats like if there is a train going east at 60mph and a train going west at 60mph and the trains are 100 miles apart, how long will it be before the trains meet?

Answer one (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1457/poem3.htm)

Answer 2 (http://www.mugjoint.com/ayurveda/veda_papers/local.htm)

[Natalie4Dean]

What r u all on about? This is sooo confusing!