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How to Do the disappearing dollar math trick

Flowchart illustrating a financial transaction involving hotel costs and payment distribution.

A math story problem in which you seem to come up a dollar short in the solution...but not really. Here's the trick with an explanation.

The Disappearing Dollar

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people, so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now, each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29.

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