Math question

[Bugg]

Ongoing debate(beer may be the kitty)-

which sum is bigger-

$1 million,

or

the sum of 1 penny, added together with double the penny the next day and - i.e., 1 cent, day 1+2 cents day 2+4 cents day 3, continuing to the 30th day of the month.

I would think it's 2 to the 29th power(but does that do the addition or do you need a calculus matrix of some kind?), but don't know of any site that allow you to get that sum.Other than adding up the 30 sums. Any guidance?

[Jet Moses]

Take the penny.

[JohnnyHector]

Ongoing debate(beer may be the kitty)-

which sum is bigger-

$1 million,

or

the sum of 1 penny, added together with double the penny the next day and - i.e., 1 cent, day 1+2 cents day 2+4 cents day 3, continuing to the 30th day of the month.

I would think it's 2 to the 29th power(but does that do the addition or do you need a calculus matrix of some kind?), but don't know of any site that allow you to get that sum.Other than adding up the 30 sums. Any guidance?

The result is actually not 2^29, as that is only the value for the 30th day. The actual formula is 2^0 + 2^1 + 2^2 + 2^3 + ... 2^(n-1), where n is the number of days in the cycle. This will give you the answer in cents, not dollars, so you would need to divide by 100.

It's pretty easy to do in Excel. Take the first cell (A1) and enter .01. In the cell below it (A2), use the formula =PRODUCT(2,A1). Copy the cell with the formula (A2) and drag from A3 down to A30, highlighting those cells, and paste the formula. It will fill in the daily amount as being double the previous day in each cell.

In cell A31, enter the formula =SUM(A1:A30) and it will give you the result, which in this case, is $10,737,418.23 - obviously far more than $1m dollars.

[drago]

The result is actually not 2^29, as that is only the value for the 30th day. The actual formula is 2^0 + 2^1 + 2^2 + 2^3 + ... 2^(n-1), where n is the number of days in the cycle. This will give you the answer in cents, not dollars, so you would need to divide by 100.

It's pretty easy to do in Excel. Take the first cell (A1) and enter .01. In the cell below it (A2), use the formula =PRODUCT(2,A1). Copy the cell with the formula (A2) and drag from A3 down to A30, highlighting those cells, and paste the formula. It will fill in the daily amount as being double the previous day in each cell.

In cell A31, enter the formula =SUM(A1:A30) and it will give you the result, which in this case, is $10,737,418.23 - obviously far more than $1m dollars.

I don't know dude. That 1 million seems pretty sweet.