Simple math riddle - who can solve it?

[Black Panther]

3 guys decide to buy a gift for their boss so each of them forks out $10.

They give these $30 to a young messenger and send him to buy the gift.

However the messenger spends only $25.

Upon returning, the messenger tells them he's got change, so he keeps $2 for himself for doing the job and gives back $1 to each of the 3 men.

The 3 guys were happier now because they had spent $9 each for the boss' gift.
The messenger was happy too because he earned $2.

_______________________________

Now $9 x 3 = $27.
The messenger kept $2 for himself.

That totals $29.

What happened to the other dollar??

[Nailezs]

you ever have the feeling when you're thinking about something or trying to understand something that you hit this giant brick wall in your head? yeah, i keep hitting that. repeatedly.

get me over the brick wall, BP

EDIT: i think i get it. dude gave the guys incorrect change. 25/3 is 8.33
they should have gotten .66c back, not $1. so .66 x 3 = $2 (ok, its 1.98c but its really .66666666 you get the picture? thats the deicmal equivalent of 2/3. 1/3 x 3 = 2.) EDIT3: so the extra $1 actually went to the guys because they were given 33c more change than they should have
right?

YAY!

EDIT2: damnit its still not working right in my head but i know im on the right track

EDIT4: in effect they did not spend $9 they spent $9.33 which is where the extra dollar went
YAY I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!

[twilyth]

They gave him $27 and the gift cost $25 so the difference is the $2 he kept.

[MRCL]

Its not really a riddle, its just a mindfuck, a matter of how you look at it.

[Nailezs]

Originally Posted by twilyth

They gave him $27 and the gift cost $25 so the difference is the $2 he kept.

Originally Posted by Black Panther

They give these $30 to a young messenger and send him to buy the gift.

no, they gave gim $30...

EDIT: check my 4 edits in order in my orig post. i did it!

i r gen-ass!

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by twilyth

They gave him $27 and the gift cost $25 so the difference is the $2 he kept.

They gave him $30 in the first place, not $27.

Out of the $5 change he gave each of them $1 (so they went only $9 out of pocket instead of $10) and kept $2 for himself.

And here we go again... $9x3=$27... + the $2 he kept for himself...


________________________________

Originally Posted by Nailezs

25/3 is 8.33
they should have gotten .66c back, not $1. so .66 x 3 = $2 (ok, its 1.98c but its really .66666666 you get the picture? thats the deicmal equivalent of 2/3. 1/3 x 3 = 2.) EDIT3: so the extra $1 actually went to the guys because they were given 33c more change than they should have
right?

YAY!

EDIT2: damnit its still not working right in my head but i know im on the right track

EDIT4: in effect they did not spend $9 they spent $9.33 which is where the extra dollar went
YAY I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!

No...

the messenger had a square $5 in his pocket. He kept $2 for himself and divided the remaining $3 between the 3 guys so they got $1 each.....

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Nailezs

i did it!

i r gen-ass!

No you didn't
I know how to solve it but I don't want to spoil BPs fun.

[WhiteLotus]

£30 given, £25 spent

£5 saved, £1 given back to each guy, £2 kept.

so

£25 spent+£3+£2=£30.

£30=£30

There is no extra £, it's a riddle out of nothing.

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by WhiteLotus

£30 given, £25 spent

£5 saved, £1 given back to each guy, £2 kept.

so

£25 spent+£3+£2=£30.

£30=£30

There is no extra £, it's a riddle out of nothing.

Okay well done Mr. Spoil-the-fun

Anyways yes thats how it works. Its a simple matter of how you look at it.
Especially the last equation in the "riddle" leads you on a wrong path.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by WhiteLotus

£30 given, £25 spent

£5 saved, £1 given back to each guy, £2 kept.

so

£25 spent+£3+£2=£30.

£30=£30

There is no extra £, it's a riddle out of nothing.

Originally Posted by Nailezs

get me over the brick wall, BP

Originally Posted by MRCL

I know how to solve it but I don't want to spoil BPs fun.

I understand WhiteLotus' way makes sense... but

Put yourself in the shoes of one of those guys, imagine you're one of them..
You originally forked out $10, and the messenger gave you back $1. That means your cost was $9. Same goes for the other 2 of your mates. Each contributed $10 and got $1 back so they actually lost only $9 out of their pockets.

$9 contributed by 3 guys means that they spent a total of $27.

The messenger kept $2.

The total of that is $29...........


[Edit: btw I don't know the 'solution' either... ]

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

But put yourself in the shoes of one of those guys. You originally forked out $10, and the messenger gave you back $1. That means your cost was $9. Same goes for the other 2 of your mates. Each contributed $10 and got $1 back so they actually lost only $9 out of their pockets.

$9 contributed by 3 guys means that they spent a total of $27.

The messenger kept $2.

The total of that is $29...........

No they still spent 30$ in total.
They just got each 1$ back = 3$ total
And 2$ for the guy
25+3+2 = 30.

The key point here is that you can not assume that the three guys spent 9$. They still spent 10, just got 1$ back.
I'll do a chart.

[WhiteLotus]

It doesn't matter, every £ is accounted for. It's not a riddle, just mathematics doing a gay on you.

[MRCL]

See?

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by MRCL

you can not assume that the three guys spent 9$. They still spent 10, just got 1$ back.
I'll do a chart.

If you spend $10 and get $1 back how much would you have spent?

[WhiteLotus]

£9.

You can either look at it from a mathematics point of view which is where this "riddle" comes in, or you look at it from the real point view, where every £ is accounted for.

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

If you spend $10 and get $1 back how much would you have spent?

http://www.subzerosiam.com/forum/ima...confused-8.gif

Ten dollars. Who became a grand total of 30.
NOW you have to calculate with this 30, the individual 10 are no more part of this situation.
You pay 25, get five back from the GRAND TOTAL. Thats a NEW total of 5.
You split those 5 in 1 1 1 and 2.

So, 2+1+1+1=5+25=30/3=10, that is the correct equation.
Don't be fooled by the dollar back, it just fucks with you. Its not part of the calculation, thus there appears this "missing dollar".

[Black Panther]

Mathematically £25 spent+£3+£2=£30 obviously...

But in real life you and your pals would really have spent $9, and the messenger would really have kept $2. However at the end of the day in real life all of the $30 is distributed..




I'm ready to bet that this is the way governments collect taxes......

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

Mathematically £25 spent+£3+£2=£30 obviously...

But in real life you and your pals would really have spent $9, and the messenger would really have kept $2. However at the end of the day in real life all of the $30 is distributed..


http://img.techpowerup.org/110324/math164.jpg

I'm ready to bet that this is the way governments collect taxes......

How dare you use my brilliant graph

Anyway you have to differ between math and real life. Or, between reality and what you think. YOU think you got one buck back. In reality your money joined communism, and what was left was spread evenly again.

It really fucks with your mind, really. REALLY

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by MRCL

Ten dollars. Who became a grand total of 30.
NOW you have to calculate with this 30, the individual 10 are no more part of this situation.
You pay 25, get five back from the GRAND TOTAL. Thats a NEW total of 5.
You split those 5 in 1 1 1 and 2.

So, 2+1+1+1=5+25=30/3=10, that is the correct equation.
Don't be fooled by the dollar back, it just fucks with you. Its not part of the calculation, thus there appears this "missing dollar".

There's a large invisible penis mindfuck here.

It gets more complicated if you imagine that you are one of those 3 guys.
If you contributed $10 and got $1 back in change there's no way you can insist that you paid $10. Try saying so to the other 2.....

You paid $9, and so did your other 2 mates who also paid $10 and each got $1 in return.
The messenger only kept $2.

Sure the totals kept by you and your mates total $3 and the messenger kept $2 so that makes $5 and everything is fine........

But you and your 2 mates paid $9 since you all got $1 change.

And 9x3=27.

So all three of you only paid $27. The messenger kept $2 tips.



Now what?

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

There's a large invisible penis mindfuck here.

It gets more complicated if you imagine that you are one of those 3 guys.
If you contributed $10 and got $1 back in change there's no way you can insist that you paid $10. Try saying so to the other 2.....

You paid $9, and so did your other 2 mates who also paid $10 and each got $1 in return.
The messenger only kept $2.

Sure the totals kept by you and your mates total $3 and the messenger kept $2 so that makes $5 and everything is fine........

But you and your 2 mates paid $9 since you all got $1 change.

And 9x3=27.

So all three of you only paid $27. The messenger kept $2 tips.



Now what?

Nothing, everything is fine, move along Ma'am
You still paid 10 bucks, but in the end it looks like you only spent 9. But you did spent 10 and got 1 back. It seems that the three guys spent 27 in the end, but they really did spend 30.

[Nailezs]

so far as i can tell only BP and I understand the actual riddle.

BP do you understand my mathematical explanation? if not i will try and simplify it.

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Nailezs

so far as i can tell only BP and I understand the actual riddle.

BP do you understand my mathematical explanation? if not i will try and simplify it.

Sheesh I get it, theres a dollar missing yadda yadda yadda. The "riddle" however exists only in your brain.

Tried a mathematics forum yet? There are tons of threads about this same riddle.

[FordGT90Concept]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

What happened to the other dollar??

The messenger gave it to himself because he was one of the three.

$25 spent, $2 to messenger, $1 to A, $1 to B, $1 to C = $30

A/messenger spent $9 = $2 for delievery, $7 for the gift.
B spent $9 = $9 for the gift
C spent $9 = $9 for the gift

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by FordGT90Concept

The messenger gave it to himself because he was one of the three.

No the messenger didn't contribute to buying the gift. He just took the $30, bought a $25 gift, kept $2 for the trouble and gave $1 each to the other 3 guys who had forked out $10 in the first place.
Thanks to the messenger giving them $1 back each, now instead of $10 each they contributed $9 each towards the boss' gift.

Originally Posted by MRCL

Nothing, everything is fine, move along Ma'am
You still paid 10 bucks, but in the end it looks like you only spent 9. But you did spent 10 and got 1 back. It seems that the three guys spent 27 in the end, but they really did spend 30.

So, you're saying that if I spend 10 bucks and get one buck back in change, I can still insist that I spent 10 bucks and not 9? How could 3 guys give out $30 between them, receive $3 to be divided back between them, and insist that they still spent $30?

[MRCL]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

No the messenger didn't contribute to buying the gift. He just took the $30, bought a $25 gift, kept $2 for the trouble and gave $1 each to the other 3 guys who had forked out $10 in the first place.
Thanks to the messenger giving them $1 back each, now instead of $10 each they contributed $9 each towards the boss' gift.



So, you're saying that if I spend 10 bucks and get one buck back in change, I can still insist that I spent 10 bucks and not 9? How could 3 guys give out $30 between them, receive $3 to be divided back between them, and insist that they still spent $30?

Perception