this is an old old illusion.
There is no missing dollar.
Since they each got a dollar back, they only spent $27 altogether.
The bill was $25, and the waiter got $2.
Priya, Mai, and Lin went to a cafe on a weekend. Their shared bill came to $25. Each student gave the server a $10 bill. The server took this $30 and brought back five $1 bills in change. Each student took $1 back, leaving the rest, $2, as a tip for the server.
As she walked away from the cafe, Lin thought, “Wait—this doesn’t make sense. Since I put in $10 and got $1 back, I wound up paying $9. So did Mai and Priya. Together, we paid $27. Then we left a $2 tip. That makes $29 total. And yet we originally gave the waiter $30. Where did the extra dollar go?”
Think about the situation and about Lin’s question. Do you agree that the numbers didn’t add up properly? Explain your reasoning.
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