All,

 I'll bet if you try it, you will be closer to seven (7) than 42 or
 anything else for that matter.   As you all know, theoretical and
 practical are two different animals.  They should be the same
 mathematically, but as a practical matter, they aren't the same.
 That's the rub here.  Theoretically, the magic number is about 42.
 But as a practical matter, it's only about 7.  Maybe 8 if you're
 really strong and nimble.  Not only do you increase the thickness
 by two every fold, you also decreas the area by half at every fold.
 By the time you fold it seven times, you're down to 1/64th the size
 of the original sheet.  And although you may have enough strength
 to bend paper that thick, you don't have anything to hold on to
 because you've reduced your area by 63/64th of what is was.
 I know this to be true.  I've done it.

 P.S.  Does any of you know how to cut a hole in a standard sheet of
       printer paper (8.5" x 11") big enough for you to walk through?
       Let me know if you can't figure it out and I'll tell you how
       it's done.


                                                 Regards,

                                                    Jim



>                Tuesday, November 12, 2002  3:45:50 PM
>
> Hello Jan-Erik,
>
> Tuesday, November 12, 2002, 5:59:09 AM, you wrote:
>
> JES> Now, since we allready are OT, maybe a little mathematics problem
> JES> could in place ?
>
> JES> Consider a sheet of paper, 0.0001 mm thick.
>
> JES> Lets say you fold it in the middle.
>
> JES> Then fold it again in the middle.
>
> JES> How many times do you have to fold the paper before the "stack"
> JES> have passed the Moon (aprox 380.000 km) ?
>
>
> Well, 380E3 / 0.0001E-3 = 3.8E12
>
> Every time you fold the paper, it follow the 2 exponential to "n"
> rule, so:
>
>       n log 2 = log 3.8E12 => n = log 3.8E12 / log 2
>
>       n =  41.78, where n is the number of times you have to fold the
>       paper.
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Martin Leg
> mailto:mleg@arnet.com.ar
>
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