Brainteaser for the TRP crowd

[Lorraine Driscoll/Will Layman]

C'mon, TS, we're not totally addled by reading too much V.  The "extra
dollar" is nowhere.  By the way you phrase the question, you made it seem
like something is missing, but really nothing is missing.

Each man pays his $10.  That's $30.  The hotel is only supposed to keep $25,
so they give the bellboy $5 to return to the three guys splitting the room.

Each guy gets only one dollar back, and the bellboy keeps $2.

Well, the patrons were splitting this room, which cost $25, so they each
should have paid $25 divded by 3, which equals $8.33, approximately.  The
guys didn't get back all that they should have -- they're really owed 66
more cents each.  If the bellboy had change, he should have given each guy
$1.66 back (three times $1.66 being $4.98 -- close enough).  The 66 cent per
guy shortfall (3x$0.66) is what's kept by the bellboy -- $1.98.

So, the hotel has its $25, and the bellboy and the patrons are holding the
$2 and the $3, respectively, that make up the rest of the money originally
paid out.

You make it SOUND like something is "missing" because your phrasing distorts
things.  It's true that, net, the guys each paid $9 each, for a total of
$27.  Of that $27 paid out, the hotel has $25 and the bellboy has $2.  The
three dollar gap between $27 and $30 doesn't represent the amount of money
the bellboy should have -- it represents the refund to the patrons.

I'm a high school English teacher but, like . . . DUDE!

-- Will Layman
----------
>From: Tyrone Slothrop <lieutenanttyroneslothrop at yahoo.com>
>To: pynchon <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Brainteaser for the TRP crowd
>Date: Mon, Oct 9, 2000, 3:02 PM
>

>THE MISSING DOLLAR! 
>
>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???????????
>
>
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