Phantom Money

[Mike375]

It is August. In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt.

Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Euro100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.

The hotel owner takes the banknote in a hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100. The butcher takes the money and races to his supplier to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago.

The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit. The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she was owing the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients.

At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs.

There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town's people look optimistically towards their future.

 

[Fifty2One]

Same hotel and three Americans show up for drinks. Their drink bill came to €30 so each of then ante up with €10. The waitress goes to the bar and the manager reminds her that it is Happy Hour so the total for the drinks is only €25. So on her way back to the table she decides as the Americans did not give her a tip she would keep €2 for herself and give each of them back €1. So each American actually paid €9 for their drinks.

3 x €9 = €27 plus the €2 the waitress kept only equals €29... where is the missing €1

 

[ColinEssex]

Each person paid 10 = 30 in total.

Drinks cost 25 + 3 returned = 28 + 2 = the 30.

What's the problem?

Col

 

[pbaldy]

3 x 9 = 27 MINUS the 2 dollars kept by the waitress = 25 cost.

 

[Vassago]

Each person paid 10 = 30 in total.

Drinks cost 25 + 3 returned = 28 + 2 = the 30.

What's the problem?

Col

That's what I was thinking, it's one of those riddles that are supposed to confuse the lower intellect by throwing a lot of numbers out there. Anyone with half a brain should figure it out.

 

[stopher]

That's what I was thinking, it's one of those riddles that are supposed to confuse the lower intellect by throwing a lot of numbers out there. Anyone with half a brain should figure it out.

Col didn't answer the riddle (why is there a difference of €1 when calculated one way compared to another). He merely restated the original condition. See Paul’s answer for the solution.

 

[Vassago]

It's the same thing, he just did it using mathematics rather than words. The riddle produces an error in words where it subtracts instead of adds.

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

It is August. In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt.

Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Euro100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.

The hotel owner takes the banknote in a hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100. The butcher takes the money and races to his supplier to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago.

The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit. The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she was owing the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients.

At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs.

There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town's people look optimistically towards their future.

There was a ring of people, each owing €100 to the next, looping back round to the first.
The sum of all the debts and credits is zero, whichever way you slice it - so if the hotel owner had found a €100 note down the back of the sofa, and used this to start the chain, it would still have come back and he would still have been €100 up at the end.