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

The Girl Who Played with Fire

I'm reading the second book of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larson. The story starts with a paragraph about equations. Can you complete the gaps? Use comments and write your name:

PART 1: Irregular Equations

DECEMBER 16–20

Equations are classified by the highest (a)________ (value of the exponent) of their unknowns. If this is one, the equation is of (b)________  degree. If this is (c)________ , the (d)________  is of second degree, and so on. Equations of higher degree than one yield multiple possible values for their unknown quantities. These values are known as (e)________ .
The first-degree equation (the linear equation):

3x−9 = 0 (root: x = ______)