You have an empty container, and an infinite number of marbles, each numbered with an integer from 1 to infinity.
At the start of the minute, you put marbles 1 - 10 into the container, then remove one of the marbles and throw it away. You do this again after 30 seconds, then again in 15 seconds, and again in 7.5 seconds. You continuosly repeat this process, each time after half as long an interval as the time before, until the minute is over.
Since this means that you repeated the process an infinite number of times, you have "processed" all your marbles.
How many marbles are in the container at the end of the minute if for every repetition (numbered N)
A. You remove the marble
numbered (10 * N)
B. You remove the marble numbered (N)
(In reply to
by Cory Taylor)
Okay... here is my rebuttal to your solution (both versions, as expressed in your last message).
You wrote:
At any point, the total number of marbles in the jar is equal to 9*n, where n is the problem defined repetition number.
No.... not any any point. Only after any finite number of iterations. And I wish to also stress... not at any point in time (only up to the end of the minute). At any given point up to the end of the minute, I can determine at which iteration we are at. Whereas AT or AFTER the minute is over, it is meaningless to ask which iteration we are at, and it is also meaningless to refer to the last iteration we performed, or the last marble we processed. And, don't forget, the problem asked for what happened at the end of the minute.
So, as I mentioned in my last message (and I quote), "you are misapplying terms... and concepts..."
The only inconsistency that you have shown is that your answer and our answer do not agree. But your solution is based on misapplication of concepts, so I'm not surprised that the results are not equal.
You wrote:
", the last marble must have been removed (we won't even discuss that there never was a last, or wait is that your point...)."
Yes, that is my point. You are applying a finite concept to an infinite set.
re:
