Three men decided to split the cost of a hotel room. The hotel manager gave them a price of $30.
The men split the bill evenly, each paying $10, and went to their room. However, the hotel manager realized that it was a Wednesday night, which meant the hotel had a special: rooms were only $25. He had overcharged them $5!
He called the bellboy, gave him five one-dollar bills and told him to return it to the men.
When the bellboy explained the situation to the men, they were so pleased at the honesty of the establishment that they promptly tipped the bellboy $2 of the $5 he had returned and each kept $1 for himself.
So each of the three men ended up paying $9 (their original $10, minus $1 back) totalling $27, plus $2 for the bellboy makes $29
So where did the $1 go?
Old riddle. The $2 tip is already included in the $27 they paid -- the room was actually $25.
Misleading.
Perhaps one's previous answer was not clear.
The room costs $25. Each person should pay $8.33, but they each paid $10.
Each should get back $1.67, but each contributed $0.67 for the $2 tip to the bellboy and so each got back $1 and had paid $8.33 (room) + $0.67 (tip) = $9 for the room.
The logic behind the question on the missing dollar was misleading, because the $2 tip should not be added on top of the $27 payment in the first place. It was already part of the $27 payment that all 3 men had paid for the room.
$27 is correct what. the question tries to decoy reader.
so the total cost paid by 3 men after the incident is
the corrected room rental and tip they decided to give
= 25 + 2 = 27
which is as correct because they pay $9 each after getting back the
$1 each.
3 * 9 = 27.