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The missing £1
Hieronymous
Posts: 7,290 Forum Member
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Can anyone remember - because I can't - the riddle involving three guys (I think) going to a restaurant wherein there was some sort of buggering about with the money and the end result was that a £1 had, somehow, mysteriously vanished?
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This one?
Three people enjoy a meal at a restaurant. The waiter brings the bill for £30 so each person pays £10.
Later the chef realises that the bill should have only been £25 so she sends the waiter back to the table with £5. The waiter was not very good at Maths and could not figure out how to divide the £5 so he gave each person a £1 and kept £2 for himself.
So....the three people have paid £9 each for the meal.
9x3=27
The waiter kept £2
27+2 = £29
What happened to the other pound?
you didn't have the cash, so you borrowed £50 from your mum and £50 from you dad
(50 + 50 = 100)
you bought the shirt,and had £3 change.
you gave your dad £1 and your mum £1
and kept the other £1 for yourself.
now you owe your mum £49 and your dad £49
£49+49=98 + your £1 = £99
Where Is The Missing £1?
Can't remember how it goes though
Edit - too slow
Thanks. That sounds like the one though I don't think that's quite how I first heard it. Same principle though.
Thanks. Same principle but the one I heard was the restaurant one.
It paid for the plastic bag.
Grrrrr I've been going round in circles
Each man paid £9 for a £25 meal = £27 and the waiter kept the extra £2. The number 30 doesn't come into it
I'm happy with that and I'm never thinking about it again
By only refunding them £1 each, the waiter has overcharged them in total by £2, which they un-knowingly gave to him instead of the hotel. They paid £27, he stole £2 from that, so the £2 needs to come off, i.e. £27 minus £2 = £25, which is the revised bill and is all the hotel ever see. The £2 relates to the new bill of £25 and has nothing to do with the original bill.
To get back to the original £30, you just add back the 'price reduction' of £5.
Same thing. Adding and subtracting within the same puzzle.
I get you subtract and not add but working it out the way it's told, what has happen to the other £1?
Looking at it another way, they've paid £9 x 3 = £27: the restaurant/chef has £25 of it and the waiter has the other £2.
The £9 figure is irrelevent to the actual sum as it isn't the 'true' amount.
Let me see if I can, er clarify it clearly.
£30 is paid initially.
It is then realised that it should only be £25
£5 is given to the waiter to refund.
He realises that he cannot share £5 equally
So he gives each of the three £1
£25+(£1+£1+£1)= £28
The waiter keeps £2 for himself
£28+£2=£30
But, presented in the way it is, it appears that a £1 has vanished.
They are given back £3.
The restaurant then has £25 and the waiter has £2.
Just a daft riddle, made deliberately confusing by twisting it all around. There is no missing £1.
The last part of the question basically asks "why does 27 + 2 not equal 30" - and then tells you there is a 1 missing.
The reason it's nonesense is that there is no logical reason to do the additon 27 + 2 in the first place. That's why it doesn't give the result it tells you to expect.
Logically you need to take the price everyone ended up paying 9x3 = 27, then subtract the £2 the waiter kept 27 - 2 = 25 which equals the price of the meal.
What also adds up to 30 is the price of the meal 25 plus the 3x£1 change they got plus the £2 kept by the waiter, 25+3+2 = 30.