Re: MathsBombe - observations but not the answer

On 20/02/2025 20:41, Richard Tobin wrote:

In article <hbidnYrnI_7s7Cr6nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@brightview.co.uk>,
Mike Terry  <news.dead.person.stones@darjeeling.plus.com> wrote:
 

[detailed description and worked example]

 To reduce it to its minimum...
 If
   15 = x^2 + x
then
   15x^n = x^(n+2) + x^(n+1)
 so we can exchange 15 coins of any one denomination for one each of
the two next higher denominations.
 -- Richard
 

Right - and we can keep repeating that as many times as required so that eventually all denominations have less than 15 coins used.   (That's effectively what happens in my example, starting with 8241 unit coins.)
Mike.