OFFSET
1,2
COMMENTS
The European Union uses eight coins - worth 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents, plus 1- and 2-Euro coins - with a range of values from 0 to 499. The average cost of making change in Europe, Jeffrey Shallit calculates, is 4.6 coins. The best way to lower the cost, to 3.92, would be for Europeans to add yet another coin, worth either 1.33 or 1.37 Euros (the sequence as shown uses 133, though 137 is an equally valid solution).
LINKS
Alan Burdick, The Physics of ... Pocket Change. What we really need to solve the problem of loose and useless lucre is a new coin, Discover, October 2003 issue; published online October 1, 2003.
EXAMPLE
1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents, plus 1- and 2-Euro coins (100 and 200 cents), and the proposed 1.33-Euro coin (133 cents).
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,fini,full
AUTHOR
Jonathan Vos Post, May 31 2012
STATUS
approved