Hey guys. You are all pretty clued up on currency conversions and getting the correct change, but did you know it is easy to lie with maths. Take this example.

Three people go into a restaurant and order a light meal each. The bill comes to exactly $30, so they each put in $10.

The waiter takes the money and the bill to the cashier who says you have made a mistake, the bill is only $25 so here is $5 change to give to the customers.

The waiter was pretty smart and thinks these guys do not know that I made a mistake I will keep $2.

He goes to the table and gives them each $1 back. So they have now paid $9 each. Thus 3 x $9 is $27 plus $2 the waiter has comes to $29.

What happened to the extra $1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first right answer gets the missing dollar. Yeah pigs might fly. (by the way did you know it is illegal in France to call a pig Napoleon!)

quote:

He goes to the table and gives them each $1 back. So they have now paid $9 each. Thus 3 x $9 is $27 plus $2 the waiter has comes to $29.

Each man paid $9 each for a total of $27. The restaurant kept $25 and the waitress kept $2 for a total of $27.

You added the $2 to the $27 - you should have subtracted it.

It was a waiter who tried to cheat the customers, not a waitress

So I guess nobody gets the 'missing' dollar?

Elly

Diana,
Great eye! Of course, it was a waiter - women would never intentionally cheat someone.

Of course not. By the way, got a Euro I can borrow?

I thought I might have a few more takers with this little puzzle.

I didn't expect an argument as to whether the waiter was male or female. How does sex get into everything.!

Bill and Patty are on the right track. I used the magicians trick of distraction. The 3 x 9 =27 is correct but invalid in the maths equation.

There is a correct maths equation which I will keep for another day.

Diana my joke about the pigs name is actually an old French law still on the books and never repealed. I am sure there are many laws around the world which were probably valid in their day but idiotic today. In Australia it is still law that a cab driver - taxi driver - must carry a bale of hay in the boot/trunk of his car.

quote:

Bill and Patty are on the right track. I used the magicians trick of distraction. The 3 x 9 =27 is correct but invalid in the maths equation.

Bill Sutherland is correct.

There is no missing dollar. The $5 returned to the three people was distributed at $1 to each person (1x3=3) and $2 to the waiter.

Accounting for the total $30 dollars is:
$25 to the restaurant,
$3 refund to the customers,
$2 kept by the waiter.

What is the purpose of the hay in the trunk of an Australian taxi?

Bill

Since this is a joke, I am moving it to our jokes forum. (Usually we post jokes to celebrate our post count - e.g. reaching 100.)

Monty that bale of hay only applies to cabbies in Queensland and no one knows why the law is still in place or why it began in the first place.

In Victoria it is illegal to change your own light bulbs.

These silly laws and others featured recently on a TV programme and they were all outdated and inane.

Elly