Where’s the other dollar?

Three guys walk into town. They go into a hotel and ask for a room they can share. The clerk has just the thing they want for thirty dollars. The clerk sends them to the room, takes out the ledger, and realizes that he made a mistake. The room costs only twenty-five dollars. Now he has to divide five dollars evenly three ways. Can’t be done. So the clerk pockets two dollars, tells the guys that he made a three dollar mistake and gives them each a single. Now, each man paid only nine dollars for his share of the room. Nine times three equals twenty seven, plus the two in the clerk’s pocket equals twenty nine. Where’s the other dollar?

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You are not trying to find the thirty dollars – you are trying to find twenty five dollars – the 3 guys paid thirty, minus the 3 they got back, minus the 2 in the clerks pocket – you are not supposed to add them when he gives it back, it is still part of the same thirty.

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