How Thick Does It Get?

^{Math Puzzles of the Month}
How Thick Does It Get?

This puzzle was suggested by Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point.

Fold a piece of paper in half. It is now twice as thick as it was. Fold in half again. Now it is four times as thick as the original, unfolded sheet.

Continue folding the paper in half. Do you find that it is difficult to go much further? You could try a larger piece of paper, but you would still find it difficult to continue folding it in half.

Imagine that you didn’t have this limitation and that you could take a very large piece of paper and fold it in half 50 times. How thick would it be?

Before you try to calculate the result, take a guess as to about how thick you think it would be. How does your calculation compare with your guess?

After you’ve thought about it, check our solution.