College

The world record for folding a piece of paper in half over and over again in 12 folds by Britney Gallican in 2018. Every time she folded her paper in half, the thickness doubled!Let’s pretend that we can beat Britney’s record and fold a piece of paper as many times as we want.





1. Start by writing an equation that represents starting with a 0.1 mm thick piece of paper that is folded in half x number of times.



2. Based on your equation, approximately how thick was the piece of paper Britney folded?



3. Complete the table using your equation. As the numbers get larger, you may need to convert millimeters to centimeters, meters, or kilometers. Be sure to include units with your numbers!



4. Choose any three rows of your table to find an objects that exists int eh works that is approximately the same size. For example, if your measurement was 7mm, you could say that an iPhone 13 is about 7mm thick.



5. Imagine that there was an investment that performed similarly by starting small and doubling after a certain amount of times has passed. What is the best advice that you would give to someone that was holding this investment?

The world record for folding a piece of paper in half over and over again in 12 folds by Britney Gallican in 2018 Every time

Answer :

1. Equation: [tex]Thickness = 0.1 \times 2^x,[/tex] where x represents the number of times the paper is folded in half.

2. For Britney's fold in 12 times, using the equation:

[tex]\[ \text{Thickness} = 0.1 \times 2^{12} \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Thickness} = 0.1 \times 4096 \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Thickness} = 409.6 \text{ mm} \][/tex]

3. Table:

Number of Folds | Thickness

1 | 0.2mm

2 | 0.4mm

3 | 0.8 mm

4 | 1.6 mm

5 | 3.2mm

6 | 6.4mm

7 | 12.8mm

8 | 25.6 mm

9 | 51.2mm

10 | 102.4 mm

11 | 204.8mm

12 | 409.6mm

4. Objects of similar thickness:

- 0.4 mm: Credit card

- 25.6 mm: Stack of 100 US dollar bills

- 204.8 mm: Thickness of a standard dictionary

5. If there was an investment performing similarly to the paper folding, I would advise someone to be cautious about the potential exponential growth. While the returns may seem slow initially, they can quickly escalate with each doubling. It's crucial to monitor the investment regularly and consider potential risks associated with rapid growth. Diversification and periodic reassessment of the investment strategy would be prudent to manage potential volatility.