Understanding "Market Cap"
An Exercise in Financial Mathematics

Jorge Stolfi
2021-02-17

Problem Data

1. Five homeless and penniless beggars are living under a bridge.
2. Al got from Bill an IOU of 1 billion dollars.
3. Bill got an IOU from Chuck for 2 billion dollars.
4. Chuck got an IOU for 1.5 billion from Al and another of 2.5 billion from Dick.
5. Dick got an IOU for 3 billion from Ed.
6. Ed got an IOU for 1 billion from Bill and another one for 3 billion from himself.

Question

The five beggars -- Al, Bill, Chuck, Dick, and Ed -- how many billion dollars do they have altogether?

Last edited on 2021-02-17 05:50:19 by jstolfi