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NO LINKS!!!

When my daughter wanted to earn some money during the summer, I told her she could do yard work around the house. I gave her two options for payment. She could make $12 per day, for 30 days, or she could earn $0.01 the first day, $0.02, the second day, $0.04 the third day, $0.08 the fourth day, and continue this pattern for thirty days. Explain to my daughter which option she should choose. Be clear and complete: my daughter can be stubborn. Use multiple representations (equation, table, graph) to support your argument.

User Cliabhach
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1 Answer

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Answer:

She should take the penny doubling option

Explanation:

The option for $12 a day will result in a total of $360 after 30 days. The option for a doubling of earnings each day will result in earnings of more than $12 on the 12th day, and a total more than $360 on the 16th day. By the end of the month, the doubling option will have earned a total in excess of $10 million.

The two "calendar" attachments show the day number, the earnings that day, and the accumulated total. The third attachment has a graph of the first few days, showing the "doubling" option quickly exceeds the option for $12 per day, both in daily value and in accumulated value. The accumulated value is shown on the graph.

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Additional comment

As a parent, you need to be wary of promises you can't keep. Not many parents have $10 million laying around ready to give to a child for yard work.

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There's a story of a Chinese ruler who offered a reward of one grain of rice, doubling for each square of the chessboard. The ruler quickly found his offered reward would bankrupt the kingdom. There would need to be 9 quintillion grains of rice on the last square of the board. The total is about 800 times the entire world's rice harvest last year.

NO LINKS!!! When my daughter wanted to earn some money during the summer, I told her-example-1
NO LINKS!!! When my daughter wanted to earn some money during the summer, I told her-example-2
NO LINKS!!! When my daughter wanted to earn some money during the summer, I told her-example-3
User Aman Chadha
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