A TV show costs $100,000 per episode for the first season and twice that much for every other season.  The first season had 12 episodes, and every season after that had 50% more episodes except the last season, which had 24 episodes.  The show had 5 seasons.  How much did it cost to produce all the episodes?
The first season cost 12*100,000=$
<gadget id="calculator">12*100000</gadget>
<output>1_200_000</output>
1,200,000.
Season 2-4 had 12*.5=
<gadget id="calculator">12*.5</gadget>
<output>6</output>
6 more episodes per season than the first.
So they each had 12+6=
<gadget id="calculator">12+6</gadget>
<output>18</output>
18 episodes.
That means there were 18*3+24=
<gadget id="calculator">18*3+24</gadget>
<output>78</output>
78 episodes in the last 4 seasons.
So those episodes cost 2*100,000=$
<gadget id="calculator">2*100000</gadget>
<output>200_000</output>
200,000.
For a total cost of 200,000*78=$
<gadget id="calculator">200000*78</gadget>
<output>15_600_000</output>
15,600,000.
So the total cost was 15,600,000+1,200,000=$
<gadget id="calculator">15600000+1200000</gadget>
<output>16_800_000</output>
16,800,000.

<result>16_800_000</result>