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You got the answer correct. You've obviously seen the riddle before, if you knew that I told it wrong. I didn't realize when I wrote it. Oh well.

Correct.

Three men check in to a hotel room for the night, the cost of which is $30 for the night. Each man chips in $10, and up to the room they go.

Upon a change in managers, it is discovered that the men paid too much for their room - the actual cost of that room for a night is $25. The new manager sends the bellhop up to the room with 5 one dollar bills to refund the men their money.

The bellhop, being an enterprising young lad, decides to refund only $3, as trying to divide up $5 among three men would be too difficult. He pockets $2 for himself.

The three men are satisfied - each has now only paid $9 for their night in the hotel. But as 3 men x $9 each = $27, and the bellhop kept $2 for a total of $29, where did the other dollar go?

"I will be shot"

Correct.

The other dollar didn't go anywhere.

You start out with $30 ($10 from each man).

You end up with $30, too. The manager has $25 (the cost of the hotel room), the men have $3 (their refund of $1 each), the bellhop has the $2 (that he pocketed).

Yes, each man did end up paying $9 for the room, or $27 total for the 3 of them. That would be the $25 that went to the hotel manager and the $2 that the bellhop kept.

The confusion is caused by taking the $27 that the men paid and trying to add the $2 that the bellhop kept to make $29. Actually, you should subtract the $2 which would give you the $25 that the second manager ended up with for the room.

Gee, or maybe the confusion is in my explanation. Hope this makes sense.

[ March 24, 2002: Message edited by: nancyww ]

Here is an old puzzle...................There once was a racehorse that won great fame, what do you think was the horses name.

Here's one...

Every morning a man leaves his apartment on the 10th floor, enters the elevator and rides it down to the lobby. Every evening, upon returning home from work, the same man takes the elevator from the lobby to the 5th floor and then walks the remaining 5 flights of stairs. Why?

Derick

Maybe because he's too short to reach the button to the 10th floor?

I always thought there was the added proviso that he rode up to the 5th floor and walked the remainder unless it was raining.

Mrenaud is correct! Very good. You don't win anything but very good nevertheless!!!

DT - I never heard the puzzle augmented with "unless it was raining". Is there such a variation on this puzzle that you know the answer to?

Derick

If it were raining, he had his umbrella with which he could reach the 10th floor button.

Here are some more.

1. Here's a relatively easy one. I like tall women with long, curly black hair who listen to opera and dance very well. My coworker is tall, has long, curly black hair, listens to opera, and dances extremely well. My coworker and I also get along very well. I am a very confident young man who has no problem with asking women out on dates, and I have no policy against dating coworkers. But I would never even consider asking my coworker out on a date. Why is this?

2. You are wandering around in a very complex labyrinth. You come to a fork in the path on which you are travelling; one fork will lead to the exit of the labyrinth while the other one will lead to a giant man-eating turtle. There is no way of telling which path leads where. But fortunately, the devious creator of this labyrinth has placed two wise men who exist to only help adventurers who decide to enter the labyrinth, at the fork where you stand. The two wise men are exactly identical except for in one respect; everything one of them says is the truth, and everything the other one says is a lie. There is also no way of telling which wise man is the truthteller and which is the liar. You are only allowed to ask one question between the two of them. How do you find out which path will lead to the exit of the labyrinth?

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: Marquis de Posa ]

1. Is your coworker a guy?

2. Ask either one: "Which way would HE say is the exit?" And then take the opposite. Does that work?

OK, here is a puzzle that had me baffled for quite a while. Maybe some of you will be able to figure it out right away. (I still can't even figure out what key I'm playing in). :rolleyes:

You have 12 balls and a balance-type scale. The balls all look identical but one weighs slightly more or less than the other 11. You have 3 chances to weigh the balls against eachother, in whatever combinations you choose. Can you determine which is the "oddball" and whether it is heavier or lighter than the rest?

First measurement: weigh four of the balls against another four of the balls. If the odd ball is on the scale, you would be able to see a difference in the weights of the two sides of the scale. Otherwise, if both sides weigh the same, the odd ball is among the four you have not weighed yet.

Second measurement: take the group of four balls that contains the odd ball. Weigh two of them against each other. If neither of these two balls are the odd ball...

Third measurement: measure the remaining two to find the odd ball.

Try the same thing with 27 balls and only 3 measurements.

Here's another puzzle; sort of difficult though...

Lisa likes 2 but not 22, 222, or 2222. She likes 109 but not 110. She likes 53 but not 35. She does not like 57 but likes 157. Would Lisa like 101 or 1001? And why?

[ March 26, 2002: Message edited by: Marquis de Posa ]

Lisa likes 101 because she likes prime numbers.

Derick

The first step is correct, weigh 4 against 4. Say that the side with #1-4 goes up and the side with #5-8 goes down. You do not know if the oddball is heavier or lighter than the rest. So now you must figure out if 1,2,3,or 4 is too light, or if 5,6,7,or 8 is too heavy.

Here is a fairly easy one: A man lives in a small, one room house. Each of the four walls has one window. Each window faces toward the south. A bear walks past one of the windows. What kind of a bear is it?

jgoo..... it is a polar bear, at the north pole.-----hey doesn't anyone want to try at the racehorse question?? hint, the horse is fictious, so don't say manofwar or secratariout(sp?)