Ranbir: A seven-year old’s introduction to higher mathematics, by Mona R Semerau

Ranbir told me about a little game once. He asked me how thick would a block of paper be if you could fold one sheet 50 times. I thought a bit and finally made a “C” with my hand. “I’n’know, this thick?” He laughed and called me a dummy. Try it! he said, but be sure you have a big sheet of paper. Really big.

My name is Buck O’Doul. I’m only seven years old. I decided to take up this challenge and fold the state
of Nebraska 50 times and see what I came up with.

Little did I know what I was getting into — I was being sucked into the world of higher mathematics, squares and square roots, hooky things, squishy scales and logarithms, and all pretty much just by counting on my fingers!