A note to R. E. S. - I loved this problem, caught it a little late.
And to the answerers, loved the answers - Great job!
Now for some twisted antics.
In an alternate reality:
Santa caught the elf before he could begin his maniacal plan. Santa did the math.
'You idiot!' he screamed. What do you think I'm doing here, delivering Widgets to half the galaxy? This is only the planet Earth we are talking about. What the hell am I gonna do with 254 quadr,... octa,... oh whatever that number is, ... widgets? Look here!!
'I need exactly one billion A-sized widgets!! Now get to work and give me that exact amount'
The elf turned from maniacal to masochistic.
'I'll show him, er,... no I'll show me! I'll come up with an equation that will be like a face that only a mother could love! BWHAHAHAHA!'
So the elf instead of using the replacement formula (t+1) of the next smaller sized, changed the formula to be
2 + int(tx) where t = the same t as the earlier problem int = the typical int function e g int(5.867) = 5 and x is any real number that solves the problem.
Will the elf be able to solve this problem using that replacement formula? Hey wait a sec, this is not a yes/no problem. It is either find an x if it exists or show that x does not exist.
Orion Ryder
