A set of tiles numbered 1 through 100 is modified repeatedly by the following operation: remove all tiles numbered with a [perfect square](https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Perfect_square), and renumber the remaining tiles consecutively starting with 1. How many times must the operation be performed to reduce the number of tiles in the set to one?
$\text{(A)}\ 10 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 11 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 18 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 19 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 20$
The pattern is quite simple to see after listing a couple of terms.
\[\begin{tabular}{|r|r|r|} \hline \#&\text{Removed}&\text{Left}\\ \hline 1&10&90\\ 2&9&81\\ 3&9&72\\ 4&8&64\\ 5&8&56\\ 6&7&49\\ 7&7&42\\ 8&6&36\\ 9&6&30\\ 10&5&25\\ 11&5&20\\ 12&4&16\\ 13&4&12\\ 14&3&9\\ 15&3&6\\ 16&2&4\\ 17&2&2\\ 18&1&1\\     \hline \end{tabular}\]
Thus, the answer is $\boxed{\text{(C) } 18}$.