Missing Dollar Riddle
This Easy puzzle in the “logic” category rewards careful reading and step-by-step reasoning. Use the hint if you are stuck, then compare your approach with the explained answer.
3 guests check into a hotel room that costs $25.
They each pay $10, for a total of $30.
Later, the hotel clerk realizes the room should have cost only $25, so he gives the bellboy $5 to return.
The bellboy keeps $2 for himself and gives $1 back to each guest.
So each guest has now paid $9, for a total of $27.
The bellboy has $2.
27 + 2 = 29. Where is the missing dollar?
Show Hint
Show Solution
There is no missing dollar.
The trick is that the arithmetic is being arranged in a misleading way.
The guests paid $27 total, and that $27 already includes:
- $25 kept by the hotel
- $2 kept by the bellboy
So the correct relationship is:
25 + 2 = 27
And the original $30 is accounted for as:
25 + 2 + 3 = 30
The error is adding the bellboy’s $2 to the guests’ $27, even though that $2 is already part of the $27.
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