Got me totally confused

J4K3 M

J4K3 M

J4K3 M

Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2009
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Location
Newcastle
Ok to start off with i work in a pub and was working there tonight and talking to one of the customers. He asked me if i was good at maths which i not to bad at, so he gave me this question but i cant work it out it is really confusing.

Lets see if anyone can help me?

Ok so 3 men walk into a restaurant and order some meals each £10 each. At the end the each give the waiter their £10 totalling £30 and the waiter takes it to the cashier. The cashier then says it was only £25 for the 3 of them and not £30 but the waiter cant split the £5 between the 3 of them so gives them £1 back each and keeps £2 for himself returning the whole £5.

But then that means they only paid £9 each for their meals which totals £27 plus the waiters £2 += £29. Where has the other pound gone?

Anyone get it because me and a few others are pretty bamboozled by it? :confused::confused::confused:
 
Is it not just that you should be taking 2 away from £27 to make £25 rather than adding it?

They have overpaid the £25 by 2 pounds (by paying 9 each) so the waiter takes it?
 
Or look at it this way - if they'd all paid £9 each it would be £27 which is £2 over the £25 :D

EDIT: Beaten
 
this is older than me.

cashier says 25, waiter gives them £3 back (28) and takes 2 for himself (30).
Its a play on words.
 
Or look at it this way, they have all contributed a tenner in the form of 25/3 + 5/3 each. When they get their pound back they have now contributed 28/3 each to the £30 and the waiter gets 6/3 from what remains.

28*3/3 + 6/3 = 30,
also (25/3 + 5/3)*3 = 30

There are your two £30 expressed in two different ways.

The key is that in the first calculation, only the 28 is multiplied by 3, whereas in the second, the whole left hand side is.
 
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Think of it like this - The three chaps ended up paying £9 each. That's £27. OK? £25 went to the restaurant and £2 to the skanking waiter who ripped them off........:rolleyes:
 
As Morba says, this is old - I first heard it in about 1980, and it was old then. The answer is, there's no fallacy in the first place; you are trying to add two different things: where the money is, and where it isn't. If you just add up where the money is, it makes sense.



M
 
they give the waiter £30

£25 goes into the till, £3 goes back to the customers and £2 to the waiter = £30
 
Thank god they didn't get a ten pound refund (in pound coins) because that would have been £3 each and £1 for the waiter, meaning it only cost £7 each.

3 x £7 = 21 and the waiters £1 make only £22 but oh noes where's the £8 gone.

Do you see how stupid this riddle is?
 
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