Alright smart people Let's see who will be the first one to break this down

This is very clever!

Here's my answer..
Really there isn't a missing dollar. You still have $1 left.
You paid mom and dad $1 each which made "you owe" them $49 each instead of $50.
If you took the $2 you paid them plus the $1 you kept for yourself that would equals the $3 change return from purchasing the shirt.
That's my answer.

OK this is how my wife and I broke it down.

$50(mom) $50(pops) = $100 total. Cost of shirt $97
Now the objective is to pay the money back to both parents so $97 divided by $2 = $48.50

$48.50 +$48.50 = $97 so in order to be able to pay both parents back, we have to deal with $48.50 x 2 which again would equal $97. So with the $3 dollars left over, they both are given $1.50 each which would bring the total paid to each parent $50. $48.50 + $1.50 = $50 times 2 equals $100.

Yes $49 + $49 = $98 and if you add the $1 it comes up to $99. However the correct way is to SUBTRACT and not ADD the dollar you kept from the $98 which would bring you back to $97 and divide it by 2 and that is the balance you owe...$48.50 each parent.

Hey Beloved, you fried my brain with this one. I think I'm gonna need some Rogaine due to pulling out the hair on my head lol!

Lol...I think I got it but I wanted to see what y'all came up with first. The way I see it:

I got $100 dollars from both parents to buy a $97 dollar shirt. The store clerk gave me $3 change back. I gave $1 to my mom and $1 to my dad and kept $1 for myself.

Now I owe mom and dad $49 dollars each. $49 and $49 is $98 and if I add the $1 I kept it makes it $99 but that has nothing to do with it. If I add the $1 I kept I will allow that to confuse me.

I have to add the $2 dollars I already repaid them. So if I gave my parents the $49 dollars that I owe each of them and add that to the $2 I already gave them that totals up to $100.

The dollar I kept is left over because I did not use it to repay my parents.

i asked a few teachers i know and they could not figure it out and I'm surprised there aren't more people who responded since they are so many of us who love to interpret everything or maybe they are just to shamed to put themselves out there?

Siebra; I think you and I have the correct answer, that is unless want to get very technical and say that "Yourself" is the person with the missing dollar. Since the problem named "yourself" kept a dollar.

This has been fun!

Great Brain teaser, Siebra!!!

But...didn't I see this on Abbott & Costello years ago???

No, that was who's on first

this is a simple math problem why cant I figure it out why is it sticking in my head like this...damn you babygirl lol

you made me threw my iphone across the room cause i can't figure it out!