World's Toughest Riddle Explained

Where did the extra money come from? Learn the answer to the problem stumping people around the world!

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[rsuresh]

I have ₹5000
Spent:0 Balance:5000
Spent:0 Balance:5000
Spent:0 Balance:5000
Spent:0 Balance:5000
Now explain me from where I got ₹20, 000...
this is what happens if you add the balance column...

[jimmyc]

The simple answer: Summing the balance column is just a nonsense.

[jensraab]

The toughest question for me that's arising from this problem is why anybody would even add the balance column, let alone expect it to match the original amount.

[o_sch]

Figured it out right away “why are we summing the balance?” And then tried a scenario where you spend 1 every time and realized its pointless because it will be 49+48 on the very first cycle

[bewhrzj]

How About

*I Have 50*
*1st Spend = 0 | Balance = 50*
*2nd Spend = 0 | Balance = 50*
*3rd Spend = 0 | Balance = 50*
*4th Spend = 0 | Balance = 50*

*Spend = 0 | Balance = 200*
*Thats How You Got Rich😎*

[fabianwascher]

You have $50.
You spend $50 and the balance is $0.
Where did the money go?

[neetugupta]

Others: thinking from where did that 1 ₹ came??

me: feeling proud that he used ₹ for example 🤣

[SharkyShocker]

My favorite tactic is "Same Problem, Different Numbers" and it works well here.
Just change the problem so that each time you're spending 10, and you quickly realize (with a balance add up of 100) that it doesn't have to equal the original balance at all.

[ArtinTheBeast]

Let's reword the problem and create a similar one:


I have $50.
I spent $1, now my balance is $49.
I spent $2, now my balance is $47.
I spent $47, now my balance is $0.
Total spent=$50. Total balance=$96.
*Where did that extra $46 come from?*


Notice how the "spent" category will always add up to $50, but the balance category won't necessarily. That's because adding up the balance is a completely illogical move in order to determine how much money you started with.

[taragnor]

The sum of the balance column is meaningless. I mean just consider if you start spending the money a $1 at a time. The balance sum would be massive. But that sum doesn't really equate to any useful information. It could be zero if you spend all the money instantly, and it could be massive if you spend the money in 1 cent increments. This is hardly a tough riddle. It's just finding a weird coincidence where the number is one off, and pretending like the sum of the balances relates to something real.

[alok_singh]

This riddle teach us how politicians makes money & common man thinks where is wrong❌

[opsahu]

The real riddle is how can someone call this stupidity a riddle.

[simonharris]

The real riddle is how this riddle became known as the world's toughest riddle.

[bcsiu]

I have $50.
First, I spend $1. Balance: $49
Then, I spend $1. Balance: $48
...
Finally, I spend $1. Balance: $0
Yeah, I have $1225.
Extra $1175.

[thelordnaevis]

The first thing I said when I saw the thumbnail was “why’d they sum up the balance”

[seenasuresh]

This is how you become a billionaire
Start spending $50 😂😂😂

[reda.kharoubi]

looks like Presh is going through puberty again

[blocksource]

I am glad I could figure one of them out finally. While looking at it I realized that the Balance doesn't mean it's the amount you have, it means that's the amount you have left over at that point, meaning you could spend $1 each time, and have 49, 48, 47, 46 and boom, you have $100+ balance while you originally had $50.

[jefrillahjebaseelan]

The fact that I came to know abt this problem a few years back and my father solved it real soon and the worst part is I didn't get it that time 🙄. I'm proud that I have my father is intelligent but sad that I'm not 🚶🚶🚶

[phatkin]

for me, the key to this problem was realizing that we could insert infinitely many rows where the amount spent is 0, but the remaining balance remains constant. So the number in the bottom right could actually be arbitrarily large.