Fascinating
Facts
The Game of Chess
Because all the rice in his kingdom will not
be sufficient to grant the wish. In fact he may not be able
to find so much rice in all the civilised world at that time.
Dont believe it? look at the following table
| |
# of squares |
# of rice grains |
|
#
of squares |
#
of rice grains |
|
#
of squares |
#
of rice grains |
weight of rice grains in
Kgs |
|
#
of squares |
weight
of rice grains in Kgs |
|
#
of squares |
weight
of rice grains in Kgs |
|
| |
1 |
1 |
|
11 |
1024 |
|
21 |
1048579 |
|
|
31 |
5360 |
|
41 |
5488640 |
|
| |
2 |
2 |
|
12 |
2048 |
|
22 |
2097152 |
|
|
32 |
10720 |
|
42 |
10977280 |
|
| |
3 |
4 |
|
13 |
4096 |
|
23 |
4194304 |
|
|
33 |
21440 |
|
43 |
21954560 |
|
| |
4 |
8 |
|
14 |
8192 |
|
24 |
8388608 |
|
|
34 |
42880 |
|
44 |
43909120 |
|
| |
5 |
16 |
|
15 |
16384 |
|
25 |
16777216 |
|
|
35 |
85760 |
|
45 |
87818240 |
|
| |
6 |
32 |
|
16 |
32768 |
|
26 |
33554432 |
|
|
36 |
171520 |
|
46 |
175636480 |
|
| |
7 |
64 |
|
17 |
65536 |
|
27 |
67108864 |
335 |
|
37 |
343040 |
|
47 |
351272960 |
|
| |
8 |
128 |
|
18 |
131072 |
|
28 |
134217728 |
670 |
|
38 |
686080 |
|
48 |
702545920 |
|
| |
9 |
256 |
|
19 |
262144 |
|
29 |
268435456 |
1340 |
|
39 |
1372160 |
|
49 |
1405091840 |
|
| |
10 |
512 |
|
20 |
524288 |
|
30 |
536870912 |
2680 |
|
40 |
2744320 |
|
50 |
2810183680 |
|
So you can see by the time you reach the 50th square
a staggaring amount of 2.8 billion Kg of rice will be needed, proceeding
further to the 64th square you can calculate the amount of rice needed.
Surely it would not have been possible for the King to grant such
a wish, probably even today it would not have been possible. |