Ahmed is trying to see how many times he can fold a piece of paper in half. The thickness of the piece of paper he starts with is 0.001 centimeters. How thick will the paper be after 10 folds?

To find out how thick the piece of paper will be after Ahmed folds it in half 10 times, let's break down the problem step-by-step.

1. Start with the initial thickness:
- The initial thickness of the paper is 0.001 centimeters.

2. Understand the folding process:
- Each time the paper is folded in half, its thickness doubles.

3. Calculate the thickness after each fold:
- After the 1st fold, the thickness is [tex]$0.001 \times 2$[/tex] centimeters.
- After the 2nd fold, the thickness is [tex]$(0.001 \times 2) \times 2$[/tex] centimeters.
- After the 3rd fold, the thickness is [tex]$((0.001 \times 2) \times 2) \times 2$[/tex] centimeters.

4. Generalize the pattern:
- After each fold, the thickness of the paper is multiplied by 2. Therefore, after [tex]$n$[/tex] folds, the thickness will be:
[tex]\[
\text{Initial thickness} \times 2^n
\][/tex]

5. Calculate the thickness after 10 folds:
- Substitute [tex]$n = 10$[/tex] and the initial thickness of 0.001 cm into the formula:
[tex]\[
\text{Thickness after 10 folds} = 0.001 \times 2^{10}
\][/tex]

6. Simplify the calculation:
- Compute [tex]$2^{10}$[/tex]:
[tex]\[
2^{10} = 1024
\][/tex]
- Now multiply the initial thickness by 1024:
[tex]\[
0.001 \times 1024 = 1.024 \text{ centimeters}
\][/tex]

So, after 10 folds, the paper will be 1.024 centimeters thick.