Break down an amount of money into the fewest US bills and coins.
This uses a greedy algorithm — always taking the largest denomination that fits, then moving to the next-largest — to break an amount into the fewest possible US bills and coins.
The greedy approach happens to give the true minimum count for standard US currency denominations, which isn't guaranteed for every possible set of denominations in general, but works correctly for USD.
Useful for cashiers, cash-handling training, or just double-checking that you've got exact change for something before a transaction.
$47.68 breaks down to 2×$20, 1×$5, 2×$1, 2 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 3 pennies — the minimum count of bills and coins to make that exact amount.
US denominations are structured so that always grabbing the largest note or coin that fits never leads to a worse overall result — this isn't true for every possible currency system, but it holds for USD.
No — this covers the denominations in standard everyday circulation. $2 bills and half-dollars exist but are uncommon enough in daily use that most cash-handling scenarios don't count on having them available.
The calculator rounds to the nearest cent first, since US currency doesn't have a smaller unit than the penny to break down further.