Question of the Day: Would You Rather Have $1,000,000 or Double Your Money Every Day for 30 Days Starting With A Penny?

I have used this as an opener to a lesson on compound interest and students loved it!

Challenge your students by giving them a few minutes to come up with an answer.  You may need to get students started by talking them through how the penny doubling works (start with $0.01, double your money on day one, so now you have $0.02, double your money on day 2, so now you have $0.04…).  Before working through the solution, have students with a show of hands indicate their choice.  

Some will likely create a chart like this while others may just guess: