Question

A sheet of notebook paper is approximately 0.003 in. thick. Tear the sheet in half so that there are two sheets. Repeat so that there are four sheets. Repeat again so that there are 8 sheets. Continue in this fashion until the paper has been halved 50 times. If it were possible to complete the process, how high would the final pile be?

Answer 1

3.3776997 x 10¹² inches high

Explanation:

The number of sheets obtained after each tear (N) is described by an exponential relationship, where 'n' is the number of tears:

`N=2^n`

For n = 50:

`N=2^(50)\\N=1.1258999*10^(15)`

If each sheet is 0.003 in thick, the stack would have a height of:

`h = 1.1258999*10^(15)*0.003\\h= 3.3776997*10^(12)\ in`

The final pile would be 3.3776997 x 10¹² inches high.