Question

Suppose you receive a chain letter asking you to send $1 to the person at the top of the list of six names, then to add your name to the bottom of the list, and finally to send the revised letter to six people. The promise is that when the letters have been sent to each of the people above you on the list, you will be at the top of the list and you will receive a large amount of money. To investigate whether this is worth the dollar that you are asked to spend, create the requested models and answer the following question:

Suppose each of the six people on the original list sent six letters. How much money would the person on the top of the list receive?

Answer 1

The person at the top of the chain letter list would receive $36 if each of the six people on the original list sent out six letters and each of the new participants sent $1.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question you've asked is about a chain letter that follows a geometric progression where each person sends out six letters after they add their name to the list. To calculate the total amount of money the person at the top of the list receives, we consider that each of the six people originally on the list sends six letters, thus involving 36 new people in the chain. Since each of these new participants sends $1 to the person at the top of the list, the total amount received by that person would be 36 times $1, which is $36.