Question: A man went into a bank with a thousand dollars, all in dollar bills, and ten bags. He said, "Place this money, please, in the bags in such a way that if I call and ask for a certain number of dollars you can hand me over one or more bags, giving me the exact amount called for without opening any of the bags." How was it to be done? We are, of course, only concerned with a single application, but he may ask for any exact number of dollars from one to one thousand.
Answer: The contents of the ten bags (in dollar bills) should be as follows: $1,2,4, 8, 16,32,64, 128,256, 4S9. The first nine numbers are in geometrical progression, and their sum, deducted from 1,000, gives the contents of the tenth bag.
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