Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

rajasharan wrote: post #3

erikstarck wrote: post #2

...in other words: fold a paper 42 times and you reach the moon.

but you can't fold a paper more than 8 times

Not quite true: http://sichantalpo.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/folding-paper-in...

Re: Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

#5

Post by magicseth » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:38 PM UTC

This makes me wish wolfram alpha were social. I'd love to be able to have a conversation about interesting formula and results.

Re: Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

#6

Post by jameskilton » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:43 PM UTC

erikstarck wrote: post #2

...in other words: fold a paper 42 times and you reach the moon.

And only 8 more folds to reach the sun!

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=log2+%28+%28distance+to...

Ain't exponentiality awesome?

Re: Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

#7

Post by olalonde » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:47 PM UTC

jameskilton wrote: post #6

erikstarck wrote: post #2

...in other words: fold a paper 42 times and you reach the moon.

And only 8 more folds to reach the sun! http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=log2+%28+%28distance+to... Ain't exponentiality awesome?

And only 41.46 more folds to reach the size of the observable universe! :)

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=log2+%28+%28size+of+uni...

Re: Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

#8

Post by theboos » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:57 PM UTC

erikstarck wrote: post #2

...in other words: fold a paper 42 times and you reach the moon.

... requiring about 4 trillion sheets:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+to+moon%2Fthic...

... or 2.586 trillion square feet of paper:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+to+moon%2Fthic...

... with a minimum price of $16 billion dollars, not including shipping and handling into space: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+dollars+per+ream+*+1+..., http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/382045718/bulk_paper.html

Re: Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

#9

Post by iKristinW » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 8:03 PM UTC

magicseth wrote: post #5

This makes me wish wolfram alpha were social. I'd love to be able to have a conversation about interesting formula and results.

That's a great idea. You can share interesting results with @WolframFunFacts.

Re: Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )

#10

Post by norvig » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 8:06 PM UTC

Oh come on ... the right question is http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=ceil%28log2+%28+%28dist... , to which the answer is of course: 42