Math Plane 

Spread the word!!

There's a popular math problem that goes like this:

A man offers this deal to his son, "you may have $1,000,000 or 1 penny doubled every day for a month.
Which would you prefer?"

The boy looks at the penny and the case of $1,000,000..  And, thinks...

So, which offer should he take?

This exercise demonstrates the power of numbers and compounding. 

Many people recognize the power of compounding when they invest money. (see the "rule of 72")   But, it also has another value: website exposure. 

In the 1970s, there was a famous commercial for Breck hair shampoo by Fabrage. A lady is washing her hair and claims how great it is. At the end, "she tells 2 friends, & they told 2 friends, and so on, and so on, and so on..." Viewers watched their television screen quickly fill up with women washing their hair.

So, that's my hope. That a visitor to mathplane will find the site helpful.. And, then tell 2 friends.. And, they'll tell friends, and so on and so on and so on...  How many visitors would Mathplane get at the end of the month if everyone told 2 friends?  Well, how much money would the young boy have if his penny doubled every day?!?!

Brief solution to the problem:

A penny doubled every day would go this way:  1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 1.28, 2.56, 5.12... After 10 days, the boy would have only $5.12... Hmm...  that's a long way from 1 million dollars... During the next 10 days,  $5 would become   10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5012... After 20 days, the boy has well over 5000 dollars...  Now, starting with 5000 on day 21:  10K, 20K, 40K, 80K, 160K, 320K, 640K, 1 million +.....

I'll leave the rest of the problem to you....