Brainercise: Magic Gardens edition
mosaic mural art by Isaiah Zagar, inside the building
mosaic mural art by Isaiah Zagar, outside the building
Y’all are quite good at these brainteasers! Ashley T., eddy, Alyssa, Ruben, and Paola all came up with the right answer AND some tasty dishes for last week’s brainteaser. Whoohoo!
I visited Philadelphia yesterday with a couple good friends to see the Magic Gardens, which – if you’re ever in Philly – you absolutely HAVE to go see. Forget the Liberty Bell and the Rocky steps. If you want your breath taken away, go see the Magic Gardens. Preferably on a sunny day. I almost didn’t include photos because photos – no matter how good – cannot do this place justice. Isaiah has lived and worked in this building for about 20 years, and he’s covered almost every inch of it with his mosaics. Go. You won’t be disappointed. (There’s a documentary about him called In a Dream playing in some cities now. That’s why we visited – to see the art before we watched the movie.) I really, really enjoyed this place. And Isaiah is such a generous man. He was working on some pieces when we visited and asked us to help him, and he showed us how he made some of his art. A very sweet man.
Anyway, hanging out with my friends reminded of the following brainteaser because a mutual friend of ours told us this one a long time ago. It has nothing to do with Philadelphia, or mosaics, or gardens. My mind works in mysterious ways.
Three men go to a hotel to rent a room. The clerk says the room will cost $30. The three men decide to split the cost evenly, pay $10 each, and go up to their room. Later, the manager informs the clerk that the room was actually $25, not $30. So the clerk gives the bellboy five $1 bills to return to the three men. On his way to their room, the bellboy realizes that he cannot divide $5 equally among the three men, so he keeps $2 (bad bellboy!) and gives the men $3 ($1 each).
Since the three men each paid $10 (for the $30 room), and they each got $1 back, each man really paid only $9. So altogether, the three men paid $27 for the room, not $30 because 3 x $9 = $27. The bellboy has $2, so that makes $29 so far ($27 + $2 = $29). But the three men paid $30 at the beginning. So where is the other dollar?
eddy
April 17, 2009I think I got it, don’t read my post if you want to try for yourself.
So the three men paid $27. The bellboy got $2 but that doesn’t make $29. Since the room costs $25, the $27 that the men payed was split, $25 went to the clerk for the room and the remaining $2 went to the bellboy. Now you might be wondering why this doesn’t add up to $30. That’s because the men each got $1 back, so they got $3 in total. This, together with the $25 they payed for the room and the $2 the bellboy took makes $30. Phew!