Three people get a motel room for the night. When they get to the motel they pay a $30 bill for the stay, then go up to their room. Shortly after, the bellhop brings up their bags and gives the people back $5 because the motel was having a weekday discount. So the three people decide to each keep one of the $5 dollars and to give the bellhop a $2 tip. However, when they sat down to tally up their expenses for the motel they could not explain the following details:
Each one of them had originally paid $10 (towards the initial $30), then each got back $1 which meant that they each paid $9. Then they gave the bellhop a $2 tip. HOWEVER, 3 • $9 + $2 = $29
The three people couldn't figure out what happened to the other dollar. After all, the three paid out $30 but could only account for $29.
Any thoughts?