Missing Pound

A Maths Starter of The Day

Three people enjoy a meal at a Thai restaurant. The waiter brings the bill for £30 so each person pays £10.

Later the chef realises that the bill should have only been £25 so she sends the waiter back to the table with £5. The waiter wasn't very good at Maths and couldn't figure out how to divide the £5 so he gave each person a £1 and kept £2 for himself.

So....the three people have paid £9 each for the meal.
9x3=27

The waiter kept £2
27+2 = £29

What happened to the other pound? Does this make sense?

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Keywords: Starter | Money | Problem Solving | Puzzles | Arithmetic

"I think they are very good - some of the 'numeracy' starters were a little dry but you seem to have improved them recently. Thanks for taking the time to put these together and making them free. You've earnt your gold star!"

Chris, Exeter
Tuesday, June 20, 2006

 

"Good Grief! That had me going (despite being a 30 year old maths graduate!) The waiter's £2 came out of the £27 paid by the three diners. They did pay £27 (3 x £9) and £25 went to the kitchen and £2 to an unscrupulous waiter. Thanks for making me think though!"

Anne, Blackburn, Lancashire
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

 

"The £27 they paid is the £25 for the meal and the £2 the waiter kept."

9yma3, Northcliffe School
Friday, June 08, 2007

 

"Excellent. Thank you very much for a fabulous set of starters. I use the 'weekenders' if the daily ones are not quite what I want. Brilliant and much appreciated."

*Nikki Jordan, Braunton School, Devon
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

 

"£30 shared equally between three is £10 each.

£25 shared equally between three is £8.33333......(recurring).

(£8.3333...) X 3 + £5 = £10 X 3

So the pound is still there!"

Class 8A (Miss Yuen), St Philomena's School, Carshalton
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

 

"Right

The £30 is spead out like this

Restaurant:- £25

Waitor:- £2

Customers:- £3

so 25 + 2 + 3 = £30 so the pound is still there

That Waitor is "NAE NICE""

Stuart Don, Aberdeenshire
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

 

"Man thats hard that'll keep me thinking but if they all payed 10 came back with 5, £1 for every one = £23 + £2 = 25 help me!"

Joss Dutton, Class 9T3, National Comprehensive School
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

 

"The £30 is still there!"

Faizah, Newcastle
Monday, October 22, 2007

 

"Here's the real sum;

£25 for Bill !
£3 for People !
£2 for Waiter ! SOOOOOOOO......

£25 + £3 + £2 = £30 so the pound hasn't gone anywhere."

Katie n Shaz n Cyan n Jess n Jess !, Menzies High School
Friday, December 14, 2007

 

"They have not paid £27 for meal the bill was £25. yes they paid £27 but inculiding £2 which waiter kept for hiself.
so £25+£2+£3=£30"

Baran Ulutas, london
Tuesday, June 03, 2008

 

"We found this starter extremly good and the children really enjoyed it and quoted " This was the best starter."

Miss Andrew and Miss Dengure, Nether Hall Learning Campus
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

 

"The Pound is still there because:
£30 - £1x3 = £27.00
£27.00 - £2.00 = £25.00

So the restaurant gets
£25 + £2.00 (waiter)
Guests get £3.00
Totals £30.00

We thought this was a good starter because it got us thinking!!!"

Elder Class, Petersfield
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

 

"The pound has not gone any where because if the people paid 10 pounds each,the total was 30 pounds.
But the waiter came back with 5 pounds meaning they only paid 9 pounds.
this is the sum.
Waiter=2 pounds,
People=3 pounds,
Bill= 25 pounds.
25 add 3 add 2 =30 pounds"

Holly Adams, Thistely Hough
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

 

"10x3=30 right and the waiter gives back 1 pound to each person so thats 9x3 which is 27 plus the 2 pounds the waiter took which is £29. but it's really 30-3=27 and 27-2 so the pound hasn't gone anywhere it's to do with the times tables i think."

MWS student, Home
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

 

"So what are we looking for? the 30 pounds spent or should we look for the 25 given for the meal:
each pay £9 (9x3=27) and the waiter keeps £2 so the sum should realy be £27 - £2 = 25 which is what the restaurant got!!!
real good staters though
Thanks"

Eddy, Huntcliff school
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

"they added the 2 twice in both 9x3 and the 27+2. They should have written 27+3 because they paid for the waiters *tip*
Original cost=£30
Returned £3
Waiter kept £2
therefore they paid £27, instead of £25-the evil waiter stole £2.
THEIF!!!!!
woooooooooooooohoooooooooooooo"

Farnborough hill Hampshire , year 8 set 1
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

"£25 + £3 + £2 =£30

THE WAITER SHOULD BE FIRED!! "

Mrs O'Hagan's 2nd yr class, Holyrood RC Sec , Glasgow
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

"Charlotte says no it doesn't make sense, but we liked it anyway. More like this please."

year 8 top set, Brockington College
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

"The one pound is still there because the waiter =£2
people =£3
bill =£25

so they all add up to £30.there we have it there was no one pound missing after all!"

Simran Kaur Kainth, Holyrood RC Secondary School
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

"I think he kept the pound for him self!"

Ghaya Rashid, Northbury Junior School
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 

"I really enjoy using your starter of the day with my students. The missing pound one was a very hard nut to crack."

Godwin Amarikwa-Obi, St. Mary's COE School, Hendon, London
Friday, June 20, 2008

 

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This starter has scored a mean of 3.8 out of 5 based on 79 votes.
 

  

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Answers

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