Jim-Bob is in the Guiness Book of World Records.
He has exactly one hundred records to his name…
…which is in itself a record: more world records than anybody else in the world.
SO…
Does Guiness tally up a grand total of one hundred OR one hundred and one?
Presumably, then, one of those one hundred records is the fact that he has more world records than anybody else.
Thus, he has one hundred records.
So, if someone breaks 1 of his other records he may only have 98.
How so? He’ll still have 99 records. Unless the guy that broke one of his records also previously had 99 records.
For ease of discussion, we’ll say that there are “action records” - which you get for performing some difficult action - and “meta records” which are records for having records.
If someone else, Mary-Sue, has 99 records then one of them must be the meta record and the other 98 are the action records. If Jim-Bob gets 98 action records, he won’t have earned a 99th so Mary-Sue would still be ahead. If Jim-Bob earns a 99th action record then he’ll only be even with Mary-Sue and still won’t have “the most”. Only once he gets the 100th action record can he win a meta record, and that would be the 101st, for having “the most” records. You could tell me the story, based on the 100, even though he has 101 by the end of it.
If Mary-Sue only ever had 50 action records and had a meta record for the 50, then Jim-Bob could have 99 action records and a single meta record as his 100th, or 100 action records and a single meta record as his 101st. Again, you could tell me the story either way.
The only thing we know for sure is that his top competitor has no more than 99 records, action + meta included. Jim-Bob could have either 100 or 101 total records. He still has “the most” before Guinness tallied it and after they awarded him. When they awarded, he could have had 99 or he could have had 100. After they award him, he’ll have 100 or 101 records. Guinness might tally it again but it would still be the same award, or else they’d have to give him infinite awards.
Whether they do so would be up to them, and whether you’ve decided to tell us the story based on whether he had 100 or 101 is up to you as well. There’s insufficient detail to determine.
Unless Guiness has a category for “most world records”, the fact that he has more world records than anyone else doesn’t actually mean he has another Guiness World Record for that feat.
Wait, are you sure this guy’s name isn’t Cantor?
They do have exactly that.
Since we’re quibbling, I’ll note that while Guinness acknowledges that Furman has more Guinness World Records than anyone else, nowhere in that article does it mention that Guinness has a specific World Record for that achievement.
Ah, but once Jim-Bob earns a 99th action record, he ties Mary-Sue for the meta record, giving him 100 records and making him sole owner of the meta record.
The meta record is for the “most”. You don’t get one for a tie.
The problem statement makes it clear:
If the meta-record counts, then it’s one of those hundred. If it doesn’t, then it isn’t. But either way, the one piece of information we know for sure is that he has exactly one hundred records.
It does remind me of achievements (AKA badges, trophies, etc.) in some games, though. In games with many achievements, it’s often impossible (or nearly so) to have exactly 100 of them, because there’s another achievement for having 100 achievements.
So that means she would lose the meta record for the tie, and he would immediately get the meta record. Same outcome
I’m thinking of opening a barber shop to break the world record of shaving the largest number of record holders who don’t shave themselves.
Yeah - go for it. You might as well. Guinness World Records have set themselves up as the ‘arbiter’ of World records, And you can even create your own category! There are ‘rules’ about what you can try as a record (and Guinness make the rules), but basically just do whatever you want. It will cost you a couple of grand - after all, Guiness have to send someone with a stopwatch and a clipboard - and then - wey-hey!! you too can have a certificate saying ‘World Record’!
Businesses often use this tactic to get some publicity - ‘The World’s biggest Pumpkin Pizza!’ - ‘The Longest Hot Dog (mustard division)!’ etc. They get the story on the 6 o’clock news (usually the item before the weather).
I think it’s an utter load of crap, personally.
Guiness have 65,000 records in their database. 99% are just people doing weird things that no one else cares about.