Suppose that you won the top prize from a game show and are given two options. The first option is a cash gift of $10,000 and $1,000 per day for the next 7 days. The second option is a cash gift of 1 cent (or $0.01) that grows tenfold each day for 7 days. Which option would you choose?

The second option.

Step-by-step explanation:

By the end of the 7 days you will have collected $100,000 but if you choose the first option you'd only end up with $17,000.

b

Step-by-step explanation:

The equation:

3

x

2

−

5

x

−

12

=

0

is in the form:

a

x

2

+

b

x

+

c

=

0

with  

a

=

3

,  

b

=

−

5

,  

c

=

−

12

The roots are given by the quadratic formula:

x

=

−

b

±

√

b

2

−

4

a

c

2

a

x

=

5

±

√

(

−

5

)

2

−

4

(

3

)

(

−

12

)

2

(

3

)

x

=

5

±

√

25

+

144

6

x

=

5

±

√

169

6

x

=

5

±

13

6

That is:

x

=

5

+

13

6

=

18

6

=

3

or  

x

=

5

−

13

6

=

−

8

6

=

−

4

3