A more efficient coin system (using 1p, 3p, 17p…)

Question

my maths teacher was talking about a coin system that uses 1p 3p 17p plus some more I cannot remember. Is this a legitimate idea that someone has thought about before or is my teacher just making things up?

Answer 1

Russia and the USSR used 3-kopek coins for better efficiency.

Answer 2

How about denominations of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc? You'd never need duplicate coins for a single transaction.

Answer 3

I think there should be a 7p coin as well. Sine 1,1,3,7,17 is a modified version of the Fibonacci sequence, where \[;a\_n = 2a\_{n-1} + a\_{n-2};\]. Just a guess.

Answer 4

It's 1, 3, 9, 27......

Answer 5

What we really need is negative coins to make paying for 99c things easier.

Answer 6

Harry potter? They used something like this if I remember correctly…

Answer 7

I might be talking garbage but wouldn’t a Fibonacci sequence be the way to go ?  Or does it have too many small ‘denominations’ ?