fandomhigh | MATHS CLASSES: WEDNESDAY 19.10 (Look! October, not November!)

Charlie hands out a print out with the following on:

You're sitting in math class, minding your own business, when in walks a Bill Gates kind of guy - the real success story of your school. He's made it big, and now he has a job offer for you.

He doesn't give too many details, mumbles something about the possibility of danger. He's going to need you for 30 days, and you'll have to miss school. (Won't that just be too awful?) And you've got to make sure your passport's current. (Get real, Bill, this ain't Paris). But do you ever sit up at the next thing he says.

You'll have your choice of two payment options:

1 One cent on the first day, two cents on the second day, and double your salary every day thereafter for the thirty days; or

2 Exactly $1,000,000. (That's one million dollars!)

On the bottom Charlie's scrawled: Pick one option and explain why. Turn in at the end of class.

This sounds hinky--like a trick question--so Han starts working out the numbers on a scratch paper.

The money mounts up slowly, surely, and by day 24, it's not looking too bad. He's made up his mind by day 28, and his eyes pop at day thirty when when he sees the final paycheck.

He writes:
"I'll take the first option. Even though I wouldn't make an honest day's pay until two weeks in, the fact that by the end, I'll have made over four million is worth it."

Angelus blinks with surprise to realize he knows this one.

He turns in a piece of paper which says:

Option one, because if anyone understands the principle of how money can build over time, it's a vampire. More specifically by the end of the month I would have made ten times as much money as if I'd picked option two.

Now ask me how that kind of thing works over centuries and you can start to understand why my fashion choices have yet to break my bank account.

Angelus indicates to Charlie that he'd like to ask him a question when he's got a moment.

Charlie looks up, then nods, waving Angelus over.

"Hey, teach," Angelus came up to Charlie's desk. "Got a question for you. Would it be possible to calculate how many vampires were on the planet based on the number of humans that existed at the same time?"

[ooc: Scarily enough, this actually came up IC]

Charlie blinks, then nods. "Absolutely. You'd have to take in a count a whole bunch of relevant factors -- where vampires can live, for instance, but it should certainly be doable. Any particular reason why?"

"Friend of mine asked me last night and I had to admit I didn't know," Angelus said. "We don't take a census, and for obvious reasons a lot of us like to hide. But I figured maybe we could work it backwards based on how many vampires a planet could actually support."

"Yes, that will work," Charlie nods, then pauses and smiles. "You know what this sounds like? An extra credits project."

"I'm actually interested in the answer so I'll take that challenge," Angelus said. "But only if you promise to help. Me and figures only go so far."

"Oh, sure. It would have to be after classes though," Charlie says. "I have office hours on Thursdays, if you want to get started right away with the planning. I imagine we'd have to track down some information... Unless you know it all, of course."

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::writes her response::

Easy. Option One ends up at... $5368709.12 on the last day alone, assuming I've got the currency system right.

However, I'd take option 3: "Not go". Because no amount of money is worth leaving ~~Anders~~ my friends here at school for a month.

*peeks over at Cally's paper*

*grins*

::looks over, sees Anders grinning, and grins right back::

*sails a paper Raptor with a smiley face on it over to Cally's desk*

::sends a paper Raptor with "C (heart) A" on it back to Anders::

*looks at it, turns bright red, and spends the rest of class staring doofily into space*

So . . . you wanna head into town?

*is still grinning and holding the paper Raptor*

That's what we planned to do, right? ::smiles::

Anders chews on his pen, thinks, then pulls out his scissors and cuts the corners off the paper before writing.

I really wouldn't want to go away for a month but if I did, I'd have to go with the first option, because that's more money over time. The million right off sounds like a sweet deal, but I've heard of pro Pyramid players getting ripped off by taking a huge signing bonus and then a really crappy salary after that. I'd rather go with the small signing bonus (or I guess none in this case) and a definite, steady pay increase.

P.S. Who's Bill Gates?

Assuming I have to accept the offer in the first place, I would select option one as option one would be the most financially beneficial.

"First one. It's a hell of a lot better to work up to the big money then take the lump-sum right away. Two is how people end up broke."

Alanna glanced over the problem and did a few calculations on the side of the paper. She loathed math, but this was a problem she had actually seen before.

By math, it would be more wise to choose option one since you would wind up with more money. Personally, I would choose neither. I have enough money not to go off on a mysterious adventure for amonth. She pauses for a second. Ask me again in a year though, the answer would probably be definetly yes. If this was a real situation that is.

Option one. It's the most financially profitable.

However, I'd want a whole lot more details before I did anything. And if he wanted me to go to Turkey, no go.

Mathematically #1 is higher. But because of the mysteriousness of the job, there's no guarantee I'd survive the whole thirty days, so I'd choose #2 and the million and make sure it was deposited first or at least that someone was around to collect at the end of the job if I couldn't.

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