Good day TPForum members!
I got this text messege riddle since I was in 3rd year highschool and now I'm 2nd year college still I don't know what is the answer. Here is the problem.

You want to buy a tshirt worth 100 dollars... (I don't know what is the regular price of a tshirt in dollars,let us just use the word tshirt,sorry ). Since you don't have any money to buy that Tshirt, you borrowed 50 dollars to your mom and another 50 dollars to your dad,total you have 100 dollars in hand... You bought the tshirt,and it is worth 97 dollars... You have the change of 3 dollars.
You gave 1 dollar to your mom
You gave 1 dollar to your dad.
You still have a debt to them 49 dollars.
You still have 1 dollar in hand.

49+49=98

plus the 1 dollar in hand.

98+1= 99

the question is, where does the 1 dollar go?

Can someone help me... Im bothered with this problem in the past 3years.

The first thing I notice is a contradiction:



For my solution, I'll assume the shirt is 97

You don't need to add the value of the debt to the equation.

You have: 1 dollar, a $97 t-shirt
Mom: 1 dollar
Dad: 1 dollar

$3 plus the $97 t-shirt = $100

It doesn't matter how much you OWE them, it only matters where the money actually is. (probably in banks )

EDIT: Just found this, it may help:Missing Dollar Riddle

Yes, another way to put it, if you wanted to talk in terms of debt: You owe your mom $49, you owe your dad $49, that's a total of $98 in debt, which is exactly one tshirt plus one dollar ($97+$1).

Skarabajo.

Sorry for the contradiction. I'm not good in english.
Maybe thats the answer... I think.

Haha, this is my favorite logic problem of all time because it fools SO many people. Actually, the one I heard is slightly different, but the same concept: If you're sure you want the answer, highlight below:

The way the problem is written leads you to an incorrect conclusion because the mathematical statements at the end do not accurately describe the situation. Think about what the statements are trying to count. $49 + $49 = $98. This is the money you owe your parents. The $1 you still have in your hand does not count TOWARDS the money you owe them, it counts AGAINST it because you could give, say, your mom the $1 and then you would only owe a grand total of $97. So, the correct way of stating the math at the end of the problem is: $49 you owe your mom + $49 you owe your dad - $1 you still have = $97, the cost of the shirt. Once you have given $2 back, the amount of money still in question is NO LONGER $100. Does that clear it up?

Peace,
Matt Galla

Edit: Just saw that new people have posted. I'll leave mine anyway. And HeX, the fact that you stated the shirt costs 2 different prices isn't the issue here. That isn't really the reason for why the math doesn't make sense. It is true that you worded it poorly, but I forgive you . It should probably read: You thought the shirt cost $100, but after you buy it, you realize there is a discount and it really only cost $97.

Edit again: And I see NType3 found that wikipedia describes the exact problem I gave above! The solution there probably does a better job at explaining it than me

Basically, you're $98 in debt. You still have to $49 to your mom, & $49 to your dad.

49+49=98 in debt.

MINUS, not plus, the 1 dollar in your hand. (The $1 takes away from your debt, not adds too it.)

98-1=97

Since the t-shirt ended up being $3 shorter, you only had to pay back your parents $97, which is the same as calculated above.

Right, because when you end up with your T-shirt, you have -98 dollars, not positive, therefore the positive dollar in your hand takes away one dollar of your debt = -97 Then, If you consider your t-shirt as 97 dollars positive, you have a balance of zero, which is perfect.

Nice logic question

Why not split the dollar in two and give them another 50 cents each.

New Debt = $48.50 each to your parents. $48.50 x 2 = $97 (the cost of the t-shirt!)

You are adding things which shouldn't be added. You are mixing debt with the actual $100.

$100-

$97 went to the store
$1 went to your mum
$1 went to your dad
$1 remains in your procession

$100 Debt-

You owe your mum $49
You owe your dad $49

$2 has already been paid making your total debt now $98.

A lot of similar logic questions work the same way. By mixing things like debt and credit you end up confused and adding things together which shouldn't be. How do you think the bank melt down and world wide recession started?

the last line, 'plus the dollar in your hand'
it should be minus. dadahhh