To get back to the main topic-
Someone offers to sell you a piece of jewelery but insists that the transaction take place on the NYC subway during rush hour. You’re not sure how much you’re willing to pay for it until you see it. You plan on making an offer between $1 and $1,000. Being that it’s on the subway during rush hour you don’t want to display too much cash.
Here’s the plan-
You’re going to put different amounts of cash into a number of different envelopes and write the amount in each envelope on the top left corner, and give him the envelopes that contain the exact amount.
How many different envelopes do you need, and what are the amounts in each one, to be able to come up with all the possible numbers between $1 and $1,000?