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This sounds silly but I saw this and I couldn't figure it out so I thought you could help. The below is what I saw.

You see a top you want to buy for $\$97$, but you don't have any money so you borrow $\$50$ from your mom and $\$50$ from your dad. You buy the top and have $\$3$ change, you give your mom $\$1$,your dad $\$1$, and keep $\$1$ for yourself. You now owe your mom $\$49$ and your dad $\$49$.

$\$49 + \$49 = \$98$ and you kept $\$1$. Where is the missing $\$1$?

Tunk-Fey
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Kathy Brown
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    It vanished into your cognitive blind-spot. – rschwieb Mar 15 '13 at 21:07
  • It's not $49+49+1+?=100$, it's $49+49=97+1$. – Arthur Mar 15 '13 at 21:10
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    This is an instance of a well known riddle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_dollar_riddle – Jean-Claude Arbaut Mar 15 '13 at 21:16
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    Check out this, and don't miss part deux. – Jyrki Lahtonen Mar 15 '13 at 21:26
  • In what world does a top cost $97 ??? – Joel Aug 14 '14 at 15:17
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    The Clay Millennium committee inexplicably omitted this from their list. – user4894 Jul 04 '16 at 22:30
  • @JyrkiLahtonen - Why was this question marked as a duplicate? 1) This question is older by almost a year. When this question was asked, it didn't duplicate the other question because the other question didn't exist yet. 2) The answers for this question are much better than the answers for the other question. 3) The other question is actually a duplicate of another older question. --->> – Kevin Fegan Dec 07 '16 at 17:03
  • <<--- 4) This question is different than the other 2. For people who already know & understand the answer, this question is similar enough that they can see the connection (that's irrelevant though because those people already know the answer). But, to someone who is confused, and is looking for an answer to the question asked here, these answers are clearer, so any mention of this question being a duplicate, should also mention that: "A remotely similar question will have been asked in the future [link], but the answers here are much better for this specific question, so don't go there". – Kevin Fegan Dec 07 '16 at 17:07
  • @KevinFegan IMO it is pointless to keep this question open. I agree that the oldest thread would be a better duplicate target, but this way I managed to link all three together in a chain. If you want to garner support for your point of view, you can plead the case in this metathread dedicated for such discussions. The crowd can overrule my opinion, which is the way it should be! – Jyrki Lahtonen Dec 07 '16 at 17:28

4 Answers4

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You owe them 98 dollars, 97 of which were spent on the top and 1 of which you kept. There is no missing dollar.

Sam
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top = 97

from each parent: 48.50

48.50 + 48.50 = 97

remainder from each parent = 1.50 x 2 = 3.00

3.00 - (1.00 to each parent = 2) - (1.00 for yourself = 1) = 0

owed to each parent: 48.50 [97]

giving one dollar to each parent: 49.50 [99]

check your pocket for the remaining dollar. [100]

user65384
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He owed his parents \$49 + \$49 = \$98,but he bought the dress, \$97....therefore \$97 + \$1(he had left)= \$98....considering he gave the parents each a dollar,(\$2)....

\$97(cost of dress) + \$1(had with her) + \$2(gave to the parents) = \$100

Micah
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Tsankara
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Accountability... total debt= 100 USD Top= 97 USD Debt to your mom= 48.5 USD + pay back to her 1 USD = 49.5 USD Debt to your dad= 48.5 USD + pay back to him 1 USD = 49.5 USD Debt both of them (still in your pocket)= 1 USD Total = 100 USD

No dollar missing.

R Castañeta
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    What were you adding that was necessary to bump a 3 year old thread? –  Jul 04 '16 at 22:53