Three traveling salesmen walk into a hotel and ask for a room. The receptionist tells them that there’s only one room left. They’re in luck: It has three beds. The price is $300.
The salesmen decide to take the room. They each pitch in $100 in cash and give the $300 to the receptionist, who activates their key cards. After they’ve disappeared into the elevator, the receptionist remembers that there’s a discount on the room and that today, it’s just $250. Being an honest woman, she takes $50 out of the cash register and asks the bellhop to bring it up. The bellhop is not honest, and worse than that, he’s bad at math. He doesn’t want to figure out how to divide $50 by three, so he gives each of the men $10 and keeps $20 for himself.
Here’s the weird part: Each of the three men paid $100 and got $10 back, so they actually paid only $90 each, or $270 together. The bellhop kept $20, which brings the total the salesmen paid to $290. Where did the remaining $10 go?
I can’t remember where or when I first heard about this puzzle, but I know it’s been some time. I’ve never met anyone who can explain it to me on the spot. I’ve also never met anyone who is as delighted with it as I am.
