Thread: An old problem!

  1. #1
    Registered User FearOfTheDark's Avatar
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    An old problem!

    Ok, this is an old one:

    3 friends hire a room at a hotel, wish they each have to pay 10$ for. So that the total price for the room will be 30$.
    But then the owner of the hotel discovers that their room just costs 25$.
    So he orders the piccolo to go up to their room to give the 5$ back.
    But this is a kind of clever piccolo, who understands that it will not be possible to split 5$ on 3 persons. So he decides to give the 3 friends a dollar each and then keep the rest, 2$ for him self.

    Ok, that's fine, but if we think a little about this we'll find a verry strange thing.

    The 3 friends have payed 9$ each, and the piccolo took 2$, but there was 30$ in the beginning. So what happened to that missing dollar?

    Enjoy!
    -We're living in a illusion!
    -Ok, if that's what you think!

  2. #2
    Its not rocket science vasanth's Avatar
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    Have you ever learnt maths in school...

  3. #3
    Registered User FearOfTheDark's Avatar
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    Thank you Einstein!

    OK, this is not hard!
    But the point is that some people tend to do a caculating misstake the first time they see this problem! I'm one of them! But after some thinking, when you've switched of the autopilot you ofcourse get i right!

    Am I the only one who got this experince when i first saw this problem?
    -We're living in a illusion!
    -Ok, if that's what you think!

  4. #4
    Registered User fry's Avatar
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    Am I the only one who got this experince when i first saw this problem?
    Chances are most people know this one, so its not very exciting to see people post the same things again
    IDE: Dev C++ 5
    Lib: Allegro
    OS: Windows 2000

  5. #5
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    yes, kind of old, and if someone who hasnt seen the problem has scrolled down this far, they are probably looking for the answer.

    watch the '0's...

    Code:
    0000000000
    0000000000
    0000000000
    this is the $10 each person payed for the room. but now the room only cost $25. so we have to take $5 out.

    Code:
    00000000   00
    00000000   00
    000000000   0
    then each customer is given $1 back.

    Code:
    00000000      0     0
    00000000      0     0 
    000000000           0
    you see where the mistake is made in the telling of the story? in actuality, 2 of the customers only payed $8 for the hotel. the other payed $9, but because of the way the piccolo handled it (by keeping the extra dollar of each of the $8 customers) the customers had no way to tell.

    so it is not, as the story would have you to believe:

    9 + 9 + 9 + 2 = 29

    but rather:

    8 + 8 + 9 + 5 = 30

    or, if you want to let the piccolo keep his $2 tip:

    9 + 9 + 10 + 2 = 30
    I came up with a cool phrase to put down here, but i forgot it...

  6. #6
    100 posts. i feel special
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    yeah this is one ive heard before. lets see something original please.
    yum, yum potatoes!!!!!

  7. #7
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    Give him a break - it's still an interesting puzzle.

    And to be fair, I've never seen it told with a "piccolo" before...

  8. #8
    100 posts. i feel special
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    it is an interesting puzzle, but a common puzzle as well. i havent seen it with piccolo either. but ill be nice and give him a break.
    yum, yum potatoes!!!!!

  9. #9
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    >>> i havent seen it with piccolo either

    A piccolo or picoline is a semislang semiofficial job title in Scandinavia. They're gophers basically.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

  10. #10
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    That's basically what I assumed - I just thought I'd add that anyways

  11. #11
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    Actually, a clearer way to analyze the problem is this:

    When the owner discovered his mistake, the original transaction was voided. It essentially ceased to exist. Because of the dishonesty of the piccolo, what actually occured was this.

    3 x 9 = 25 + 2

  12. #12
    Just a Member ammar's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Govtcheez

    And to be fair, I've never seen it told with a "piccolo" before...
    That's great...
    I'll just make a new post with a teacher instead of the piccolo, because you think it's not fair... And you can delete it later !
    none...

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