Mr. King was the manager of a hotel. One weekend all the hotels in the city were full because there was a large meeting. On Friday night, three men came into the hotel and asked for rooms. Mr. King said there were no rooms ready because of the meeting. The men were unhappy.
Mr. King wanted to help them. He remembered that Room 418, a very small room, was empty. He asked them if they would share a room. The three men said they would. Mr. King said the room would be thirty dollars: ten for each one. Each man gave him the money and then went up to the room.
Mr. King soon began to feel sorry. "Thirty dollars is a lot to ask as price for that small room. " he thought. He called his assistant over and said, "Here is five dollars. Take it to the men in Room 418. I asked too much for their room."
The assistant took the money. While he was on the way there, he started to think, "How can three men divide five dollars? I'll give them each only one dollar and keep the two dollars for myself. The men will be happy to get something back, and Mr. King will never know. " So the assistant returned one dollar to each man.
Each man had at first paid ten dollars. After the assistant returned them one dollar each, each had paid nine. There were three men, $ 9 ×3 = $ 27. The assistant kept $ 2. $ 27 + $ 2 = $ 29
Where is the missing dollar?