Do Numbers Lie?
 

I've been pondering this one since I was a child and it was shared with me by my father:

Three men were traveling together. They stop at a hotel for the night. When they inquire about a room, the hotel manager informs them that a room is available and the total charge for the room is $30.00. The men agree and each provides a ten dollar bill to pay for the room they will share. After they pay and go to their room, the hotel manager discovers that he was mistaken and the charge for the room should have been only $26.00 for the one night. The manager calls for his assistant and gives him 4 one dollar bills to take upstairs to give back to the three men. On the way the assistant is confused about how to divide the 4 one dollar bills between three me, so to make things simple he pockets one of the dollars and gives each man one dollar back. Thus each of the three men paid $9.00 for the room.

3 X $9.00= $27.00 plus the dollar that the assistant kept makes $28.00. What happened to the other two dollars?:icon_wink:

After receiving the $3 back the men were out $27.

The manager got $26 of the $27 and the assistant $1.

$26 + $1 + $3 = the $30 in question.

Wording is everything!!!

I'm no mathematician, but sholdn't it be:

3 x 10 = 30, -4 = 26, + 1 = 27? Or 30 - 4 = 26, + 1 that the clerk kept = 27? Seems like it's all accounted for.

I probably didn't articulate that too well.

Since the room cost $26, each man should be charged $8.6666. So they were owed $1.3333 each. The assistant shorted each man 33 1/3 cents which left him the dollar. Nothing missing.

True enough. I think the point my dad was making was that the equation at the end of the scenario is correct. Each man was, in fact, out $9 from pocket, and the only other dollar is the assistant's. 3 X 9 = 27 plus one is 28, and this math is correct.........I think. :) There are no other dollars. Maybe my dad's point is that math can sometimes mislead and has to be deeply analyzed?

Good point. Which is why one should be leery of statistics that are thrown about freely on most any topic.

IMHO it's not the math that's misleading, it's the way the question is setup in the first place. However, what you think your dad's point was, is fundamentally correct and the question was destined to confuse, mislead and make people over think. Using a simplified balance sheet, here's how I see the situation by just presenting and proofing the facts as they are known and without posing a confusing question:

Upon Check-in.... Error Adjustment
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
$30.................... $30................... Price paid for room on check-in.
.-4. ............................................. Customers over charged.
.............................-3.................... Refunded customers.
.............................-1 ....................Pocketed by assistant.
==============================================
$26.................... $26 ...................Actual price of room.

The only problem is the math at the end. The dollar that the assistant pocketed should not be added, but subtracted. IOW, each man paid $9, equalling $27, less the dollar the assistant took, resulting in $26.

Exactly - if you say the room cost 3x9=27 and add the dollar in the pocket you are counting the same dollar twice.

I'd agree with you 90% of the time, but have to disagree the other 20%.

Or like the man said, "10% of the people cause 90% of the problems, and the remaining 90% of the people cause the remaining 90% of the problems."

agree
 

...Mikeod and Gomo beat me to it!

I just know that the numbers on my bathroom scales are LYING!:faint:

Numbers ABSOLUTELY can lie - or, at least, be misleading !

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..........datt low-end busyness colleg me wents too teached all em y'all...

........................................youse gots tuh reemimber dis fer shur...


>>>>>>>>>>>>>FIGURES DON'T LIE......
.........................................BUT LIARS CAN FIGURE <<<<<<<<<<<<