Who gave me more money?

[PureX]

Yeah, I'm still kind of wondering what one would do with an "infinite" pile of money. It would cover the whole Earth, the entire solar system, galaxy, and universe.

Sounds like an interesting premise for a horror movie. Something along the lines of "The Blob," but instead of a blob, it's a big pile of money which keeps growing and growing and devouring people.

More interesting to me is that infinity doesn't compute mathematically.

 

[stvdv]

Person A gives me an infinite number of envelopes.

Impossible...Person A can NOT do that

 

[stvdv]

So who gave me more money?

B/A = 2, so B gave double the amount, whenever you check the total amounts, and compare

Q: Who gave more (when checking balance)?
A: B gave more (when checking balance)

 

[stvdv]

Person B

Because while the envelops are infinite your life is not if you opened them alternately throughout your life Person B will always have given you more. Honestly I would just open Person's B envelopes and leave person A's alone.

Good quality...to not be greedy

Problem arises when you get more than 1 letter per second or so

 

[Brickjectivity]

I wouldn't say they "approach" infinity, I'd say they ARE infinity.

I think I understand you. If they only approached it, then they would be finite.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Yeah, I'm still kind of wondering what one would do with an "infinite" pile of money. It would cover the whole Earth, the entire solar system, galaxy, and universe.

Sounds like an interesting premise for a horror movie. Something along the lines of "The Blob," but instead of a blob, it's a big pile of money which keeps growing and growing and devouring people.

I want to see that revised movie.

 

[stvdv]

How did you reach that conclusion?

Assuming both letters with money arrive at the same time, then B gave more than A, exactly double, at any time you check and compare them

 

[Polymath257]

More interesting to me is that infinity doesn't compute mathematically.

Sure it does. Mathematicians compute with it all the time. It just doesn't work via the same rules as finite quantities. But it does have rules it works by and computations can be done.

 

[Polymath257]

Assuming both letters with money arrive at the same time, then B gave more than A, exactly double, at any time you check and compare them
View attachment 64332

While true, that is not directly relevant to the question asked, which had to do with the totals paid. The total amounts paid are the same.

 

[Polymath257]

B/A = 2, so B gave double the amount, whenever you check the total amounts, and compare

Q: Who gave more (when checking balance)?
A: B gave more (when checking balance)

Yes, but double an infinite cardinal is that same cardinal. So the balance in both cases is aleph-0 dollars.

 

[Tiberius]

B


After n envelopes are given

A's total is At = n(n+1)/2 (sum of a linear series)

B's total is Bt = 2n(2n+1)/2

Bt-At = (2n*n + n) - (n*n/2+n/2)
= (3/2)n*n -(n*n/2) + n/2
= n*n +n/2


So Bs total is always greater than A's, no matter what the size of n.


ETA(Both persons(A & B) know that you won't live forever and that will stop after sometime, so it is reasonable to accept that you will stop after a large number of envelopes are opened. i.e. you won't reach infinity. i.e you will stop after sometime and check the amounts.)

However, every single envelope that B gives you has an envelope with an equal amount of money in it that was given to you by A. However, A has also given you additional envelopes - those with a dollar value equal to an odd integer.

 

[Tiberius]

This is to expand on my earlier post as it probably makes no sense to anyone other than me.

View attachment 64325
I'm not sure if this is entirely valid but it makes sense to me.

However, if we line the envelopes up in order, then the first envelope from B will double the amount in the first envelope from A. And same with the second envelope. And the third. For any nth envelope, the value given by A will be n dollars and the value given by B will be 2n dollars. So B is always giving twice the money of A.

 

[stvdv]

While true, that is not directly relevant to the question asked, which had to do with the totals paid. The total amounts paid are the same.

This is relevant to the question asked, taking into account the whole context of the riddle as given in the OP, as explained in my answers below

I'm considering bribes from two people

This indicates a real life scenario

Person A gives me an infinite number of envelopes.

In real life it's impossible to receive nor give an infinite number of envelopes to others, hence here must be meant "an incredible number of envelopes" to make the question correct and answerable", otherwise this little gem would go wrong here already

Person A gives me an infinite number of envelopes. The first envelope has $1, the second has $2, and so on, with the nth envelope containing n dollars.

Person B also gives me an infinite number of envelopes. The first envelope has $2, the second has $4, and so on, with the nth envelope containing 2n dollars

Person B says they gave me more money, since for each envelope n, his has more money than A's envelope.

But Person A says they've given me more, since his bribe contains values of every integer size, but the odd numbered amounts are missing from B's.

To calculate "who gave more" odd or even integer bribe values are not relevant here. The calculation uses envelopes from 1 to n. So, it's about these integers when calculating

So who gave me more money?

Hence, clearly B gave more, double the amount to be precise, in this real life example riddle

 

[Tiberius]

This is relevant to the question asked, taking into account the whole context of the riddle as given in the OP, as explained in my answers below


This indicates a real life scenario


In real life it's impossible to receive nor give an infinite number of envelopes to others, hence here must be meant "an incredible number of envelopes" to make the question correct and answerable", otherwise this little gem would go wrong here already




To calculate "who gave more" odd or even integer bribe values are not relevant here. The calculation uses envelopes from 1 to n. So, it's about these integers when calculating


Hence, clearly B gave more, double the amount to be precise, in this real life example riddle

Yeah, let's not play silly word games, okay? Take the OP as written.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Infinity times two is two infinities?

Infinity times two is still infinity. It sounds like he got the same amount from each of them.

 

[stvdv]

Yeah, let's not play silly word games, okay? Take the OP as written.

You behave silly and immature

Second line would have been sufficient

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

when it involve infinity. accept the first offer. there is no way of determining any difference in the total.
there could be an advantage in having it sooner.