Where the hell is my $1?

Water Cooler
#1

You see a tie for $97 But I have no money so… Mum gives me $50 Dad gives me $50, So Now I have $100. I buy the top and get $3 change I give my mum $1 and my dad $1 So I owe them $49 each - but 49 + 49 = 98 Plus the $1 I kept = $99 Where the hell is my other $1

#2

Why does it go from dollars to pounds half way through and then back? Is that purposeful?

#3

No!

Where my dolla?

#4

tricky tricky…

#5

You don’t ADD the dollar back, you subtract it. 98-1 = 97, which is what you paid for the Tie.

600 GMAT, respect.

#6

WTH do you add in the dollar you kept? That is where your dollar is: you borrowed 100 dollars, you paid back 2 dollars, now you owe 98 dollars. The one dollar you have could be used to pay the loan back, in which case you would owe 97 dollars. No reason to add the 1 dollar to teh 98 dollars you owe, it should be deducted from it if anything.

#7

You have 99 dollars, but 97 dollar tie. So 198 dollars, and you paid back two.

This is not as tricky as i thought earlier…damn.

#8

Seems like there is a break in the Asset/Liability flow between these two steps:

So I owe them $49 each - but 49 + 49 = 98

Plus the $1 I kept = $99

You owe parents $98. So you have a $98 Liability. The $1 change is an Asset.

So either you add the $1 to your Assets, which would total $98 including the tie, or you pay your parents the $1, reducing your Liabilities to $97, which is equal to the cost of the tie.

Practical applications of FSA!

#9

I have your dollar, b!tch. Come and get it.

#10

Is this supposed to be a puzzle or do you actually not understand?

It’s basic accounting. The 98 you came up with already includes the $1 you tried to add back at the end (97 tie + 1 cash).

So initial balance sheet

Liabilities 50 mom+50 dad = 100

Assets

97 tie + 3 cash

Then using $2 to pay off debt

Labilities:

49 mom + 49 dad

Assets:

97 tie+1 cash

The issue here seems to be that half way through you attempted to retroactively assign yourself equity by calling it your dollar and in doing so double counted your $ cash balance giving you 99 instead of the 98 yous hould have. You have no equity in this transaction anywhere. Thus “you” have no dollar.

#11

I is gonna fail!!

#12

It’s a test of misdirection. (I failed it the first time).

They have you follow the math for 5 or 6 steps, then reverse the sign on you and hope you are tired enough not to notice that the dollar should be subtracted rather than added (if you read through carefully, the “plus the $1” is just casually thrown in, and then it’s simply assumed that the numbers should be adding up to $100 rather than adding up to $97).

Works pretty well, particularly if you don’t know what they are going to ask.

#13

There are many different variations of this riddle/puzzle. It is deliberately making an arithmetic mistake to throw people off (as highlighted in the posts above)

#14

The jar jar binks persona is pretty annoying.

#15

Jar Jar is my favorite Star Trek character:)

#16

It wasnt Jar Jar, fool.

#17

Well to be honest, this trick caught me out and i was scratching my head.

Thanks for the swift replies! I might keep this for an interview Q or something. just to be an asshole.

#18

It’s a variant on an old puzzle, where 3 diners hand the waiter $30 for a bill of $25, he comes back with $3 and keeps $2 for himself. The diners spent $9 each, and the waiter got $2, that only adds up to $29. Where is the missing dollar?

Also notice that Jar Jar changed from a “tie” to a “top” in the OP. So shim is a cross-dressing Jar Jar.

#19

Hahaha. BS didn’t know many black mammy-types from southern plantations growing up. Forgive him.