Comments on: Simple puzzle will confuse all but the accountants

By: koolviet

koolviet — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:59:18 +0000

3 times 8.33 is 25. 3 times the missing 33 cent is 1$ rounded off. that is where the missing dollar is at. the missing dollar got spited 3 ways to the customers.

By: Nadim.bakry

Nadim.bakry — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:52:24 +0000

It’s too simple guys, the new real price is 25 $, plus the 2$ tips for the waiter, equal 27 $ soo, 30-27= 3 $, this 3$ are giving to the ladies, so, we attend this result: It’s a fake, no missing coins

By: fanfan

fanfan — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:49:27 +0000

Well. Ladies paid 27, of which 25 went to the restaurant, and 2 to the waiter. There is no missing dollar. Put another way: 30 paid= 25 to restaurant, 2 to waiter, and 3 back to ladies. the misdirection is in the statement “Three times 9 is 27. The waiter has $2 in his pocket. Two plus 27 is $29″; the 27 includes the $2! Adding it to the 27 is double counting.

By: joyo036

joyo036 — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:09:40 +0000

It is not missing. Basically, there was 30 in the till -5 taken back by waiter so 25 in till 5 not in till. that five is split into a set of 3 for the women, and 2 for the waiter so
25=till
2=waiter
3=women
equals $30

By: narbat1

narbat1 — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:11:57 +0000

I dont see the problem…. 25 with the cashier, 2 in the waiter’s pocket and 3 with the ladies…. the question setting up a wrong equation. If the ladies paid 9 each, that means that they spend a total of 27, but you don’t add 2 (what the waiter takes) to that amount, because the waiter takes the money from THAT amount, in other words you would subtract, but that’s not what we want, it’s only to show that that the equation is incoherent, the bill was for 25, plus 2 that the waiter takes makes 27. If each lady spends 9 dollars, for an amount of 27 (including what the waiter takes) you will only be missing 3 dollars, which are in each lady’s pocket! The question is only trying to trick us by setting a wrong equation and making it look really hard when is only simple math.

Eddy

By: ksharp

ksharp — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:47:46 +0000

Actually what you end up with is this:

(30 – 2)/3 = 9.33.. — What the ladies each paid

or this

(25/3) + (3/3) = 9.33..

By: marjer427

marjer427 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:06:58 +0000

The waiter’s 2 dollars was already included in the 27 dollar amount, thus it’s being counted TWICE. By saying 9 x 3 = 27. the 2 dollars is already included in that $27 total. The only money left out of the equation is the $3 from the ladies. DUH!

By: The One Eyed Man

The One Eyed Man — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:51:41 +0000

Before paying:

$10 per lady ($30 total)

After paying:

Cashier: $25
Waiter: $2
Ladies: $1 each ($3)

25 + 2 + 3 = 30.

The misdirection in the puzzle is that the amount kept by the waiter, $2, was being ADDED TO instead of subtracted from the total amount paid. $27 (total paid by all 3 ladies) – $2 (kept by waiter) = $25 (amount paid to cashier). The puzzle makes it sound like $29 was paid, which is not the case.

By: Karthik Ramachandran

Karthik Ramachandran — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:38:17 +0000

The question is misleading us in this part
“Now that each lady has been given a dollar back, each of the ladies has paid $9. Three times 9 is 27. The waiter has $2 in his pocket. (Two plus 27 is $29). The ladies originally handed over $30. Where is the missing dollar?
”
they already gave 27 and this includes the what waiter took i.e. 25+2=27.

it should be 27 + 3 what the waiter handed over to the ladies and not
27 + 2 what the waiter took.

Hey got u……………ha ha ha

By: dave

dave — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:03:47 +0000

Here is another way of looking at it:

Before: 3 ladies each have a $10 bill. There are 5 $1 coins in the register.
Total amt: 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 35$
After: There are 3 $10 bills in the cash register, the waiter a 2 $1 coins in his pocket. 3 ladies each have a 1$ coin.

By: KC

KC — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:23:21 +0000

This puzzle is cleverly phrased.

But basically, you can’t add what was paid out (by the ladies) to what was gained (by the waiter) because they are not on the same side of the accounting column.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:32:28 +0000

25 in cashier
3 with ladies
2 with waiter

By: Robert L

Robert L — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 12:16:06 +0000

you have to understand that the cashier is one where the ladies are 3. SO when the money went to the cashier he/she divided what was not possible by the 3 ladies therefor even though it looks like a paradox, what you do not see is what the cashier did.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 03:05:23 +0000

Didn’t read the other explanations, so don’t know if this is more concise:

Perspective of first paragraph:

Ladies gave $30 to cashier (quantity A), who gives $5 to the waiter (quantity B), leaving $25 in the register (quantity C). Waiter gives $3 back to ladies (quantity D) and keeps $2 to himself (quantity E).
So the following is known:
A = B + C
B = D + E
therefore A = C + D + E

Perspective of second paragraph:

Ladies ‘effectively’ give $27 to cashier (C + E = A – D); the waiter has $2 (quantity E). The money in the waiter’s pocket was PART of the $27 originally given to the cashier (C + E), so it’s counted twice; the two quantities never existed at the same time. Once the waiter deducted his $2 from (C + E), it became C = $25–so this is adding quantities that existed at different times. When the waiter had $2, the ladies had $3, not $27, and the register had $25–and $2 + $3 + $25 still equals $30.

—
The problem we have in processing it is that we add quantities without considering that they don’t exist simultaneously. Consider the following story with the same distortion, but magnified:

Three ladies sit down in a restaurant and pay $10 each for a $30 meal. The cashier decides it should only cost $5, so the waiter decides to give each woman back $1 and to keep $22 for himself.
Ladies: $3
Waiter: $22
Cashier: $5

Now that each lady has been given a dollar back, each lady has paid $9. $9 x $3 = $27 paid. The cashier has $22 in his pocket. $27 + $22 = $49. Where are the missing $19?

This should make the distortion clear; the waiter’s $22 have been counted twice, while the ladies’ $3 (which is what they had when the waiter had $22) wasn’t counted at all.

By: Corey911

Corey911 — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:01:32 +0000

The women only paid the restaurant $25. Each of the women paid in $9, $9*3=$27. The waiter took two of the dollars so that didn’t go towards the bill so $27-$2=$25. The $5 dollars they got off is made of each of the women having $1 back and the waiter having $2 dollars so, $1+$1+$1=$2=$5. and $5+$25=$30.