Spiked Math: The Mathematician's Lottery

Greg Bernhardt

Nothing original from me today, but a comic based on a well known joke!



For those who haven't learned about the harmonic series yet, this is the summation:



This well known series diverges to infinity and thus, after a finite number of terms will have a sum of 750 trillion.

Problem 1: Determine how many years it will take for the "losers" to get their money back (50 euro). [[Is it 50 euro or 50 euros?]]

Problem 2: Determine how many years it will take for the lottery to pay out in entirety, i.e., 750 trillion!


[[P.S. I technically missed an update so $20 will be donated to OEIS according to our "agreement". Feel free to donate also if you like OEIS!]]


More...