It has to do with folding paper (page 11 of the book).
I give you a large piece of paper, and I ask you to fold it over once, and then take that folded paper and fold it over again, and then again, and again, until you have refolded the original paper 50 times. How tall do you think the final stack is going to be?
So what do you think? Before you read on write down your answer.
I started by thinking the thickness of a phone book would be about right. Then I thought for that "tricky" Malcolm to share this example, the height must be large..... so I thought high.... roughly the size of a house....
Were you like me?
It turns out that if you fold a piece of paper over and over 50 times the stack would be as high as the distance to the sun. Fold it one more time (51 times) and it would be to the sun and back....
If anyone got that right without reading the answer, I will send you a candybar in the mail (your choice of candy, no cheating Kati).
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