A riddle I can't figure out.

[Dresdan]

Okay guys have a go at this. I heard this awhile ago and can not figue it out.

3 salesmen in town for a convention, go to a hotel to get a room. They inquire at the desk and are told that there is but one room left. "No problem bring in a rollaway and we'll take it." The desk clerk fills out the form and hands them a key, "That'll be $30.00 for the room." So each of the salesmen pitch in $10.00 "here you go." get the recept and head up to their room. Checking his register as he is going off duty the clerk relizes that he overcharged the salesmen. They should have only been charged $25.00 for the room. He calls the bellhop over and explains what happened. He opens the till and pulls out 5 one dollar bills. Since he cannot split this up evenly he puts one of the bills in his pocket, instructs the bell hop to put one in his pocket, and then tells the bell hop to go give each one of the salesmen back a dollar. So this means that the salesmen paid $27.00 for the room. The clerk has his $1, and the bellhop has his $1, For a grand total of $29.00. Where did the other $1 go.

I still havn't found it.

[Grand-Ranger]

Er...

There is not a extra dollar.

1 for the bell hop

1 for the sells men

and 3 for the salesmen

thats 5. He oulled out five dollars..so thats all of them..

Did I mistunderstand the question?

[Dresdan]

The salesmen each got $1 back so they paid $9 apeice $27 for the room, right. The clerk has $1 and the bellhop has $1. Thats only $29. We started with $30.

[250]

clever [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

but

they paid $27.00 for the room. the two dollars from the clerc and the hotel worker are already included in that 27 dollars. you cannot add 2 to 27.

[Dresdan]

Your to good for me 250. I really didn't think anyone would get it that fast. I'm duly impressed. ALL HAIL THE WISE ONE!! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Well done.

[SixOfSpades]

The secret behind the trick is the way it's worded--making you add and subtract at the same time. Here, I'll give a simpler example: Lay your hands on your desk, fingers spread. How many fingers do you have? Ten. Let's count them to make sure; going from your left pinky to your right pinky we'll number your fingers in order from 1 to 10. Now this is the tricky part, adding and subtracting at the same time: Let's count your fingers backwards, from your right pinky down to your right thumb: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. But we know that your left hand has 5 fingers, so we can simply add that to the 6 we got for the right hand, giving a total of 11 fingers.

The salesmen did indeed give up $27 for the room: The $25 that are rightfully in the till, and 1 each for the clerk & the bellboy, just as 250 said. You don't add $27+clerk+bellboy to get $29, you add $27+salesman+salesman+salesman to get $30.

[SixOfSpades]

Here's another one:

A spy is captured by the enemy, and dragged to their prison camp. The enemy commandant doesn't want to interrogate the spy right now, as he's just about to go to bed. To ensure that the spy will stay up all night worrying (and be easier to interrogate the next morning), he tells the spy:
"I'm going to play a game with you. We're going to put you in a room with a door that has no lock. There's a guard in the hall, though, so you can't get out. The only things of interest in the room are 4 light switches--each switch controls 1 light bulb in the room across the hall. Now, if you can figure out which switch controls which bulb by daybreak, we'll let you go and give you a full hour before we come after you. The catch is that as SOON as you enter the room with the light bulbs, or even to peek inside, you will have to give your answer, then and there."
"Pleasant dreams."

What's a spy to do?

[250]

go to bed

[250]

then get up in mid night, sneak out and backstab the guard, then go back to sleep

[Campino]

Since we're into riddles anyway,here's another one:

What is:

-greater than God
-more evil than the devil
-rich people need it
-poor people have it
-and if you eat it,you die?

(c)a belgian player from another forum