A chap at work told me this the other day.

Three men give £10 each to buy a TV that costs £30. They get the TV then the Salesman finds out that it should have £25. So - he keeps £2 for himself and gives the men a pound each, so they only paid £9 each.
Three nines are 27 plus the £2 that the salesman kept make 29.

But they paid £30 for the TV so wheres the spare quid gone?

30 - 2 = 28 -3 = 25 ÷ 3 = 8.33

The salesman short changed the avid TV viewers.
Whereas, if the three men paid £10 each and discovered that the TV is infact only £25. They only need to pay £8.33 each. Thus the salesman owes them £1.66 each

Step 1 - Men pay for TV (I dont have a pound key but strangely enough this works in dollars (Men=$0, shop=$30)
Step 2 - shop gives back $3 (Men=$3, shop=$27),

27 + 3 = 30. None of the money is unaccounted for.

This line:

has nothing to do with the monetary transaction. Look at it from how much money everyone actually has, rather than how much they don't have, or they paid, lost spent etc etc etc.

Matt, I think with your suggestion, the rogue pound was lost in the exchange rate! So.....The 2 quid needs to be subtracted from the 27 that the purchasers made. ie 27 - 2 = 25.

ie, after he has given each of the men their money back, he has been paid £27 for something that actually cost £25. Therefore, the £2 he has is the difference between 27 and 25 rather than 27 and 30 (once he has given the men their money back, the £30 sum is irrelevant).

I think this is a genuine trick question....but going from what you suggest, all of the cash is accounted for... another theory is that the salesman is one of the buyers, so he gets to keep £3 instead of the £2 the other 2 had.

why can`t we exactly divide 10 by 3? Is this a Pi thing?

The 3 x 9 = 27 + 2 = 29 is incorrect.
The $2 has nothing to do with it - its already included in the 27.

Pleb was half way there with the £8.33 bit. The 3 guys handed over £30. The telly cost £25. They each got £1 back and the salesman got £2. Therefore 25+3+2=30.

The trick is in suggesting they each paid £9 for the telly. At £25, they were paying £8.33, and they they got a pound back, making it cost each of then £9.33, not £9.00. £9.33 x 3 = £28 (less the errant penny in rounding down), plus the salesman's £2 makes £30.

The trick text adds the salesman's £2 to the cost, not the £3 returned to the buyers.

More to the point... who cares anyway?

Say nine quid each for a TV, its gonna be a crap TV, and you used to work at an electrical retailer Tom, so really they should never have bought the TV in the first place...its gonna break down in a couple of years anyway, and they are gonna be up for more than thirty quid between them for repairs anyway... then there is the legal problem as to who is to have possession of said television anyway? No doubt the television is for watching sports and drinking beer or some such male recreation, which is only going to lead to bickering or said television being broken. My solution is stuff buying the telly in the first place, the three men should take their ten quid down the pub, give their missus a break for a couple of hours and pour the ten quid down the toilet.

Just my humble opinion....

Your right, Mel. I did wonder about the TV's quality myself. More to the point, why three blokes? What are thy going to watch?
Dirty git's!

They can watch whatever they want, it`s their TV - crap or otherwise! AND they`ll have a quid each - which means a can of Tennants Super each!
Bargain!

Yes, watching sport on their crap TV, and beer. What more could they want?

The three men need identities, shall we call them Tom, Rich and Jim?

'cough' Its so damn cheap, they'll never get it tuned in. Sounds dodgy to me

Decided to look up Johnny Ball on the net. He was always one of my favourite TV hosts when I was a kid. I found this in my search...

Think of a number... think Johnny Ball

Johnny was also one of the original presenters on Play School
He started out as a Butlins Redcoat, but television presenter Johnny Ball has become a familiar face with programmes like Think of a Number.
His inimitable style has helped countless children develop an interest in science and maths.


Johnny Ball came into our studio to talk about his new book Think of a Number
And, he set us a puzzle!


If you missed the details you can click on the link below to see the puzzle again.


Johnny's brain teaser
And the answer is at the bottom of this page.

Johnny said that his aim is to get children enthusiastic about maths and numbers for their own sake.


I think we spend too much time worrying about kids and maths

He feels that children will enjoy maths if we make it more fun and he advises parents to play maths games with their children, such as dominoes.



Our interview with Johnny Ball
Brain Teaser

Here are the details of the maths puzzle set by Johnny Ball

Three friends share a meal at a restaurant.

The bill comes to £30

They divide it equally, paying ten pounds each.

But the waiter realises he's made a mistake and should have charged £25.

He gives the friends five pounds back .

They decide to take one pound each and give the waiter a £2 tip

So, each person ends up paying £9 and the waiter keeps £2, making £29 in total.

What happened to the missing £1?


The Answer


There is no missing pound.

You don't add the £2 to the £27 they've paid because the £2 is already included in that £27 - The £2 features twice

The actual sum is the £27 plus the £3 they got back, which brings you to the original £30.


The premise of the question is false!

I think these sort of questions would be fun to ask of a group of people at dinner or a party. Because you just know that when you tell them the answer and how it works, that someone is gonna argue about it.

Arnold Rimmer!