Talk:Missing dollar riddle

message: Sometimes the article says ladies and sometimes it says men. That should be fixed. But which one should it be? -Monkey 13!!! 21:00, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: A rather interesting solution to the problem of choosing ladies or men! It uses 'waiter' and 'bellboy' too, one term should probably be used throughout here as well. Richard001 (talk) 05:22, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ladies or Men? 

message: I came looking for a solution and found a clear and concise answer.  Well Done - Thanks.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.97.224.6 (talk) 18:27, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Excellent article 

message: "Three guests check into a hotel room. The clerk says the bill is $30, so each guest pays $10. Later the clerk realizes the bill should only be $25. To rectify this, he gives the bellhop $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room, the bellhop realizes that he cannot divide the money equally. As the guests didn't know the total of the revised bill, the bellhop decides to just give each guest $1 and keep $2 for himself.
Now that each of the guests has been given $1 back, each has paid $9, and each has an extra, unexpected profit of $1 bringing the total paid to $27 and the total refund to $3. The bellhop has 2 dollars which is subtracted from the total amount paid to the hotel of $27, as this was stolen by the bellhop from the $27 the guests had "paid" to the hotel. If the guests originally handed over $30, what happened to the remaining $1?"
By copying the problem word for word, readers can know exactly where the misdirection was made. This also eliminates redundant and confusing phrases like "is accounted for" or "After the refund has been applied".— Preceding unsigned comment added by Disciprine (talk • contribs) 05:37, 24 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Even simpler solution? 

message: I for one find this article poorly written. I will try to clean up article with my reasoning if no one gets back to me.
Now, when "accounting" for all the money the solution here seems to point the fact that only $27 actually needs to be accounted for. The bellboys $2 needn't be added as its contained within what they have paid. Okay thats cool BUT:
If try to work out what happened to the $30 dollars- IE where it all is; something here has been over looked or poorly phrased. COMPLETE FACTUOUS MATHS. I'll use the assumption $30=all the money (as it is within the boundaries of the riddle)
::$30 charged between 3 people, it cost $10 each. Each person has 0, the restraunt gets 30.  It actually cost $25, so $3 is returned to them and the bellhorn keeps $2.  Each person has $1 (for a total of $3), the hotel has $25, and the belhorn $2. This adds to the total of $30. 
They have paid $27 in total (consisting of the bellhorns swabbed $2, and the restruants $25 dollars). Thats $27 paid. The other $3 dolars missing are the refunded dollars, that they have. So sure, the average payment is now $9 each, which gives the $27.The complete suspension of disbelief: Adding $2 for the bellhorn to give $29. Don't know why that happened, that is not needed and fake. There is no missing dollar. That 2 is part of the 27. Mathemeatically, the misdirection is the refund. 
:Event 1:     $30 = $25 for hotel and $2 for bellhorn and $3 extra, to be refunded.
:Event 2:        The 3 extra is refunded. This brings down the total paid. so -3 from both sides. $27= $25 for hotel and $2 for bellhorn
So the only reason try to add the $2 to 27 is because of clever misdirection. The $3 is out of the equation now, but you would add that to get to the origonal said total. 
Now for some FATUOUS MATHS "each customer is given $1 back, each has paid $9". Some people claim thats not true. They claim 30-3=28. They also have seemingly "sound" proof which is as misleading as the riddle, and should be noted. This is what I thought on first glance as many others have also.
There is $30 provided by 3 people. $25 of it goes towards the restaurent. Therefore they pay $25/3 each for the restraunt, with $5 spare. So out of they pay 8.33 each, add the $3's given back in total they have handled 9.33 each with $2 left to the bellhorn.  3x 9.33= 28 (because 0.99=1)  + the belhorns $2 = $30. The dollars gone no where.
The misdirection in this false solution is where $3 is given to 3 people, and average of $1 is given to the average amount paid- where is money given back, not an added expense. THIS IS FALSE! But should be mentioned. because an average of 10 is given, which goes to 9. Not 8.3 (although thats theorectically the hotels take, its irrevant) going to 9.3  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Deadagain33 (talk • contribs) 21:17, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: My attempt at explaining it. And a Common misconception, mentioned earlier. Worthy of note?

message: Since the question is based on a false assumption of adding money you have to debt you owe and calling that the total amount of money in the system. Money you owe is only money to you, if you think American. :P The total amount of money in the system is still the same, and it’s simply a misleading non-sequitor. There is nothing to solve since there is no valid question. Duh.
So don’t call it “impossible to solve”, since it makes you look like a fool. PROTIP: Logic
— 188.100.202.245 (talk) 01:32, 23 December 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Should that be removed, then? I mean, the answer is obvious when you think about it, because the so-called "missing dollar" is actually in the $25 kept by the cashier (25/3=24+1=25+2+3=30). I realize that 25/3 is 8.3(3), but the 24+1 was used to demonstrate the "missing" dollar. $30 - $5 = $25, each receives $1, the bellhop keeps $2,  still comes out as $30. Onopearls (t/c) 10:57, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  NOT "impossible to solve". CORRECT: "there is nothing to ‘solve’” 

message: This is the type of doublespeak and psychobabble Wall Street uses. It is really a grade school math problem.
3 people rent a motel room. The rate is $25 . 
Each owe $8.33 (plus a penny). They instead pay $9.00 a piece. They each overpaid 66 cents. (someone covered the extra 2 cents). 
66 cents x 3 (plus the 2 cents)  = $2.00 overpaid
where did the extra $2 go? In the clerks pocket  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.67.125.217 (talk) 04:02, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Don't let words confuse a simple math problem  

message: This is what you call a wild goose change! Avkrules (talk) 22:32, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wild Goose Change 

message: There are absolutely no citations in this article. it's generally not very well written either. Flagpolewiki (talk) 08:36, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citations - Lack of 

message: I have tried to find an alternative source for the reference to the "£27" episode of Help but failed.
I'm leaving it in there as it's interesting but it would be nice if anyone could find a non-dead citation ;-)
For some reason the BBC website seems reluctant to remember this programme which I recall watching myself.
TIA HAND —Phil | Talk 11:06, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sourcing issue 

message: A lot of people have opinions on how best to explain this riddle and its solution, and in my opinion the main value of the riddle is precisely that — it serves as case study in the psychology of pedagogy, for a discussion of what constitutes a good, clear explanation in a context where what is to be achieved is in part to show why a fallacious explanation is wrong.
In this, I think I have the same view as the person who wrote an earlier section of this talk page: 
I would like to add two possible approaches for the community's consideration.
Approach 1: Present the scenario in the form of a table, like this.
Money transference event  	Guest 1	Guest 2	Guest 3	Manager	Bellhop
Each guest to manager: $10	-10    	-10    	-10    	30     	0
Manager to bellhop: $5    	-10    	-10    	-10    	25     	5
Bellhop to each guest: $1 	-9     	-9     	-9     	25     	2
Approach 2: Ask the reader to consider an ammended scenario that is in fact simpler than the scenario given. In this case, suppose the bellhop did not keep the two dollar tip, but gave it back to the manager. Now there are no longer any quantities in the scenario that add up to 29, and as the matter of whether the two dollars ends up in the hands of the bellhop or the manager cannot possibly have any bearing on the amount paid by the guests, it follows that the 29 dollars was never a meaningful quantity to begin with.
203.217.93.152 (talk) 02:17, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Just another possible explanatory approach