Unlike other
fake proofs on Everything, this doesn't take the
standard tack of exploiting
algebraic or
arithmetic errors, and thus is much more effective at truly confounding people's smug sense of truth:
Three businessmen stop at a hotel and decide to evenly split the cost of the only vacancy, a $30 double. Upon arriving in their room, the bellhop discovers that it is only a single, and should cost only $25. He returns to the front desk and retrieves five dollar bills. On his way back to the room, the unscrupulous bellhop realizes that the five dollars won't go around evenly, so he pockets the two extra and hands over the three remaining dollars to the three businessmen.
So, the three businessmen each paid $9 (the $10 minus the $1 refund) for the room, a total of $27. The bellhop has the remaining extra $2 in his pocket. That adds up to ... $29. WTF??? Where'd the dollar go?
This
paradox is based on highly
misleading logic. The final summary is not an real representation of the amount of money in circulation at a point in time. We may say that the
businessmen now have $3, the bellhop has $2, and the
receptionist has $25. This adds up neatly to $30.