Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognizes the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men. The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself. Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14.....where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?
Answers
After the discount from the chef, the bill becomes 15-10 = $10, The waiter gives each of the 3 friends $1 back, a total of $3, and keeps $2 for himself
Total money given to chef = bill + money returned to 3 friends + waiter's tip
= 10 + 3 + 2
$15
The dollar had never vanished.
In the way the question was stated, the problem was that since each gave $5 for the $15 bill, but, chef gave discount of $5, the bill became $10, so the money from each person was no longer $5, and the question further stated that "Now, each of the men effectively paid $4", but that makes the bill $4x3 = $12, which is $2 more than what actually was the bill.
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The payments should equal the receipts. It does not make sense to add what was paid by the men (Rs.12) to what was received from that payment by the waiter (Rs.2)
Although the initial bill was Rs.15, one of the five Rs. notes gets changed into five ones. The
total the three men ultimately pald is Rs.12, as they get three ones back. So from the Rs.12 the men paid, the owner receives Rs.10 and the waiter receives the Rs2 differ ence. Rs 15- As.3 = Rs.10 + Rs2