Friday, January 9, 2015

The waiter.

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?


Make your own guess on comments (remember to write your name)

Time Goal: January 16th

6 comments:

  1. Pienso que esta es la respuesta
    4x3+1+1+1+2=15
    4:lo que ha pagado cada uno
    3:el número de personas que ha pagado
    1+1+1=3:lo que ha devuelto el camarero
    2:lo que se ha quedado el camarero

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  2. I'm José Luis Barrera of 2º ESO B.
    I think that the money are 12 dolars and aren't two dolars because 15 dolars minus 3 dolars are 12 dolars. That money has got the waiter.

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  3. The payments should equal the receipts. It doesn't make sense to add what was paid by the men ($12) to what was received from that payment by the waiter ($2).
    Although the initial bill was $15 dollars, one of the five dollar notes gets changed into five ones. The total the three men ultimately paid is $12, as they get three ones back. So from the $12 the men paid, the owner receives $10 and the waiter receives the $2 difference. The operation would be ----->>>> $15 - $3 = $10 + $2.

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  4. The solution is the correct operation:
    Three men paid $15, and the chef was their friend, then the waiter had to return $5, so $15 minus $5 are $10. Therefore the waiter gave them $3, but pocketed the remaining $2 for himself.
    Operation:
    $10 + $3 + $2 = $15.

    Andrea Bretones de los Rios

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  5. Nobody have got the 1$. Marta Campos.

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  6. Thanks for participating!!! If the waiter gave them $5 they would have paid $10/3 = $3.33333... each. If you add a dollar to this, then you get $4.333333 each, so they have really paid $13, if you add the $2 that the waiter kept for him... voila, you have the $15.
    Alberto, the activity is in English. I'd preffer that you write the answer with the English that you know and not using the translator.
    CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!!!

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