Missing Dollar

Tom, Dick, and Harry each paid 10 dollars for a room at the hotel. When the manager found out, he told the desk clerk that Tom, Dick, and Harry were friends of his and they should be charged only $25.

The desk clerk gave the bell boy $5 and told him to return it to Tom, Dick and Harry. The bell boy, however, decided to give them only three dollars and keep two for himself.

If Tom, Dick and Harry each received $1 back, then that means they only paid $27 for the room. With the $2 the bell boy has in his pocket, the total is $29.

What happened to the missing dollar?

Sensitive!

What’s so special about this pattern?

Water & Wine Glasses

Start with two glasses, one filled with water, the other filled with wine.

A spoonful of wine is taken from the wine-glass and stirred into the water-glass, then a spoonful is taken out of the water-glass and returned to the wine-glass. The operations are repeated.

Is there more water in the wine-glass than there is wine in the water-glass or the other way round?

Black & White Pebbles

Many years ago when a person who owed money could be thrown into jail, a merchant in London had the misfortune to owe a huge sum to a money lender. The money lender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant’s beautiful teenage daughter. He proposed a bargain. He said he would cancel the merchant’s debt if he could have the girl instead.

Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified at the proposal. So the cunning money lender proposed that they let Providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty moneybag and then the girl would have to pick out one of the pebbles. If she chose the black pebble she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be cancelled. If she chose the white pebble she would stay with her father and the debt would still be cancelled. But if she refused to pick out a pebble her father would be thrown into jail and she would starve.

Reluctantly the merchant agreed. They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant’s garden as they talked and the moneylender stooped down to pick up the two pebbles. As he picked up the pebbles the girl, sharp eyed with fright, noticed that he picked up two black pebbles and put them into the moneybag. He then asked the girl to pick out the pebble that was to decide her fate and that of her father.

Imagine that you are standing on that path in the merchant’s garden. What would you have done if you had been the unfortunate girl?

-from Lateral Thinking by Edward DeBono