Two friends went to a store to buy a gift worth 50 dollars. The owner of the shop was not present so they bought the gift from his assistant and left. When the owner returned to the shop he told his assistant that the price of the item was not 50 dollars but 45 dollars. He asked his assistant to return 5 dollars to them. But the assistant kept 3 dollars to himself and gave the two friends 2 dollars. The friends divided the money among themselves. Thus they paid 24 dollars each. So they paid (24+24=)48 dollars it total. And the assistant stole 3 dollars. But (48+3)= 51 dollars. Where does the extra 1 dollar come from?
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2$\begingroup$ The extra dollar came from bad math. They bought THE gift, the gift was 45 dollars leaving 5, on the assistants way to return the 5 he stole 3, leaving 2, gave them 2 dollars all equaling to 50 not 51. They didn't pay 24+24, they paid 45. It's just attention, no hate here. $\endgroup$– SchneejägerCommented Jun 28, 2017 at 9:02
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$\begingroup$ @wickerman lol i knew it haha! i just posted it for fun!! $\endgroup$– starkgurlCommented Jun 28, 2017 at 9:06
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$\begingroup$ I like to answer these puzzles by tweaking them to say the thief stole the whole amount of the refund; so then "they paid \$25 each, for \$50, and the assistant stole \$5, for a total of \$55. Where did the extra \$5 come from?" This usually makes it clear to confused people where the double-counting happens. $\endgroup$– HellionCommented Jun 28, 2017 at 15:03
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1 Answer
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This is a classic one.
There is no extra dollar.
The catch is that you added the 3 dollars twice instead of adding a 2.
Each friend paid 24 including the 3 dollars the assistant took.
So the total is 24+24 + 2 (the amount they got back) = 50.
An other way of calculating it:
the 2 people paid 45. The assistant stole 3, the people got back 2.
Total: $45 +3 +2 = 50$
