You borrow $50 from your mom and $50 from your dad, giving you $100 total. You buy a shirt for $97 and receive $3 in change.
You give $1 back to your mom, $1 back to your dad, and keep $1 for yourself.
Now you owe each parent $49, which totals $98. Then the puzzle says: $98 + the $1 you kept = $99. So where did the missing dollar go?
The trick is in the math.
The $98 you owe already includes the $1 you kept. That remaining debt is made up of the $97 shirt plus the $1 still in your pocket.
So you should not add the $1 to the $98. Instead, the correct breakdown is:
$97 shirt + $1 you kept + $2 returned = $100.
There is no missing dollar. The puzzle only works because it mixes debt and cash in a misleading way.
