$100 doubled to $200, $400 etc...how long to $1million?

Question

If someone lost a bet worth $100, then they double or nothing and had to give $200, then $400, $800, $1600, $3200 etc.... how many times would this have to happen before the person eventually had to pay $1 million?

And how long would this be before the total - including all the lower denomination payouts - added up to be $1 million? What would the final bad bet 'payment' be, that resulted in it getting over the $1 million mark?

Answer 1

The double or nothing scenario:

1) 100

2) 200

3) 400

4) 800

5) 1600

6) 3200

7) 6400

8) 12800

9) 25600

10) 51200

11) 102400

12) 204800

13) 409600

14) 819200

15) 1638400

Accumulatively, you would not hit the $1,000,000 mark until step 14 at which point you would have $1,638,300.