Hundred Dollars for Five

A stage magician once made the following attractive proposal to his audience.

“I shall pay 100 dollars to anyone who gives me 5 dollars in 20 coins – 50 cent, 20 cent, and 5 cent coins. One hundred for five! Any takers?”

The auditorium was silent. Some people armed themselves with paper and pencil and were evidently calculating their chances. No one, it seemed, was willing to take the magician at his word.

“I see you find it too much to pay 5 dollars for 100.” The magician went on. “All right. I’m ready to take 3 dollars in 20 coins and pay you 100 dollars for them. Queue up!”

But no one wanted to queue up. The spectators were slow in taking up this chance of making “easy” money.

“What?! You find even 3 dollars too much. Well, I’ll reduce it by another dollar – 2 dollars in 20 coins. How’s that?”

And still there were no takers.

The magician continued:
“Perhaps you haven’t any small change? It’s all right. I’ll trust you. Just write down how many coins of each denomination you’ll give me.”