POW #4: Paying with Links

A traveler having no money, but owning a gold chain having seven links, is accepted at an inn on the condition that he pay one link per day for his stay. If the traveler is to pay daily, but may take change in the form of links previously paid, and if he remains seven days, what is the least number of links that must be cut out of the chain? Explain your answer.

Return to Laura Taalman, Burruss 127, by 3/3/04.
Include your name and email address with your solution.