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Original poster

OK, clever maths peeps - explain this to me (because it's making my head hurt)

48 replies

marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:10

My friend told me this today:

3 men go to an hotel and ask for a room for a night. The manager tells them a room will be ?30 so they give him ?10 each and go up to their room (stop it! I know where your minds are going with this!)

Then the manager remembers they have a special offer on and rooms are only ?25. So he calls the porter, explains the situation, and gives him ?5 to give back to the 3 men.

The porter takes the money and heads upstairs but on the way he starts thinking "well, ?5 doesn't really divide between 3" and he pockets ?2 and gives them a ?1 back each. That means each man has paid ?9.

Now...3 lots of ?9 makes ?27, and the porter pocketed ?2 - so what happened to the other pound?

OP posts:
Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:11

Why are the pound signs not working???

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Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:11

£££££

OP posts:
Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:11

Why's it done that?

£10

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Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:12

Why has it just made all my £s into question marks? Grrrrr.

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Alibaldi · 05/10/2006 19:17

Know this is driving me mad and I know it's something really stupid/obvious but can i think of it.aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

southeastastralplain · 05/10/2006 19:17

i know it i do!!! (but can't think argh)

bran · 05/10/2006 19:19

£2 is the difference between £25 which is what the men should have paid and £27 which is what they actually paid.

Tinker · 05/10/2006 19:19

What other £

Have heard this before but can't remember official answer

Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:21

That's what dh said, bran - but why doesn't it work the way I wrote it? And why are all your £ working and mine didn't?

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TwigTwoolett · 05/10/2006 19:22

so the men paid £27 out of which the hotel got £25 and the porter got £2

they each gave a £10 note and got £1 change

what extra pound?

TwigTwoolett · 05/10/2006 19:23

the other pound only exists when you think they paid out £30 .. there was never a £30 payment

there were 3 x £9 payments

Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:24

I hate maths. My head is hurting more.

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SoupDragon · 05/10/2006 19:24

They each handed over £10 = £30
The room was £25 so the "change" was £5 which was split £1 per man (£3) plus £2 for the porter. £25 + £3 + £2 still = £30

southeastastralplain · 05/10/2006 19:25

i get it now, it's designed to do your head in!!

Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:25

But they each paid £10 - that's £30.

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Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:26

But 3 9's are 27...aren't they ?

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Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:26

I'm thick aren't I?

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bran · 05/10/2006 19:26

The £30 is a red herring you're trying to put 2 entirely separate equations together.

if the room costs £30 and they each pay £10 then
£30=£10 x 3

if the room costs £25 and they each pay £9
£25=(£9 x 3) - £2 for the porter

No missing pounds anywhere.

MegaLegs · 05/10/2006 19:26

No but they all paid £10 to start with didn't they?

TwigTwoolett · 05/10/2006 19:27

yes 3 x 9 = 27 .. of which hotel gets 25 and porter gets 2

to be honest it isn't a maths question its a semantics question

Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:27

I've had a really bad day with sanitary towels and leaky windows and dying goldfish and cooking a pan in the oven with mashed potato in it, you know.

OP posts:
MegaLegs · 05/10/2006 19:27

Don't know why I'm even trying to understand I scraped through my maths O'level with a C third time round.

Original poster
marthamoo · 05/10/2006 19:28

Hey, I beat you - I got a C first time round

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TwigTwoolett · 05/10/2006 19:28

that'll be £30 please

here you go ... £10 + £10 + £10

actually no it'll be £25

Ok here's £5 change in pound coins, porter please take these gentlemen's bags upstairs

here porter take £2 for your trouble .. and then that'll be £1 each for each of us

does that help?

MegaLegs · 05/10/2006 19:29

Where you using the sanitary towels to stop the leaky windows?