Ronald has a rare opportunity to meet the President of the United States. During his visit the president gives him a gift but tells Ronald he is never to sell it unless he sees the president again. Ronald consents, but the president dies later that year. Years later a man offers to buy the President’s gift for $1000. Ronald agrees and exchanges the gift for 20 crisp $50 bills. Did he keep his promise?
Yes. The president was Ulysses S. Grant, who died in 1885 and whose face has been on the $50 bill since 1913. He saw the president on the bills before he made the exchange.
1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator? 2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator? 3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal doesn’t attend? 4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles and you don’t have a boat. How can you cross safely?
1. Open the refrigerator, put the giraffe in and close the door. It’s not complicated. 2. Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, then put in the elephant and close the door. 3. The elephant. He’s still in the refrigerator. After all, you just put him there. 4. Jump into the river and swim across. The crocodiles are at the Lion King’s animal meeting. I admit, this is not a typical brain teaser, but it amused me.
Three travelers register at a hotel and are told that their rooms will cost $10 each so they pay $30. Later the clerk realizes that he made a mistake and should have only charged them $25. He gives a bellboy $5 to return to them but the bellboy is dishonest and gives them each only $1, keeping $2 for himself. So the men actually spent $27 and the bellboy kept $2. What happened to the other dollar of the original $30?
There is no missing dollar from the original $30 because after getting $1 back, the three travelers had paid a total of $27 for their room ($9 each), not $30. Out of that $27, the hotel has $25 and the clerk kept the remaining $2. If you still want to work from the original $30, the travelers have $3, the hotel has $25 and the bellboy has $2. The misleading part is adding the bellboy’s $2 to the $27, when in fact it should be subtracted.