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An Irrational Demand (Posted on 2018-07-17) Difficulty: 2 of 5
This delicious and open-ended problem appeared in Gary Antonick's short-lived NYT's column Numberplay.

At a restaurant, the check for your meal comes as: "Pi dollars due. Exact payment required." What do you do?

  Submitted by Steven Lord    
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Solution: (Hide)
My own two solutions are:
1) Leave 4$ and write on the receipt: "Pi$ for the mail and (5-Pi)$ for the tip."
2) Pay integrally in a foreign currency while waiting for the exchange rate to cut through Pi$.
(#2 has met with criticism in that the exchange rate can never be known in advance).

But, another solver came up with this: On the island of Yap, the currency consists of stones, and a large crafted stone is given the value ascribed to it by the stonemason. So, one might politely write to a Yap craftsman asking if a "Pi stone" could kindly be carved.

To which I added that similarly an "i=sqrt(-1)" stone might be cut, so as to introduce imaginary currency into our financial markets. To which others replied that this had already been done long ago.

There is a lot more available here:

https://www.quora.com/I-walk-into-a-restaurant-for-lunch-and-my-check-comes-to-%CF%80-dollars-The-restaurant-will-only-accept-cash-for-the-exact-amount-nothing-more-nothing-less-What-are-my-options

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re: One moreSteven Lord2018-07-18 16:20:39
One moreLarry2018-07-18 12:40:18
Some solutions posted, and one typoSteven Lord2018-07-18 06:52:15
Well, you could ...Larry2018-07-17 22:57:56
No Subjectxdog2018-07-17 13:25:40
What do you do?Charlie2018-07-17 12:15:46
re: EZ does itDaniel2018-07-17 08:57:59
SolutionEZ does itAdy TZIDON2018-07-17 07:45:28
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