xI Reverend Ix
14-07-2008, 09:35 PM
A short legend, then a problem for you to solve.
When the creator of the game of chess showed his invention to the ruler of the country, the ruler was so pleased that he gave the inventor the right to name his prize for the invention. The man, who was very wise, asked the king this: that for the first square of the chess board, he would receive one grain of wheat, two for the second one, four on the third one and so forth, doubling the amount each time. The ruler, who was not strong in math, quickly accepted the inventor's offer, even getting offended by his perceived notion that the inventor was asking for such a low price, and ordered the treasurer to count and hand over the wheat to the inventor. However, when the treasurer took more than a week to calculate the amount of wheat, the ruler asked him for a reason for his tardiness. The treasurer then gave him the result of the calculation, and explained that it would be impossible to give the inventor the reward. The ruler then, to get back at the inventor who tried to outsmart him, told the inventor that in order for him to receive his reward, he was to count every single grain that was given to him, in order to make sure that the ruler was not stealing from him.See if you can work this old math problem out with a pen and paper.
The wheat and chessboard problem is a mathematical problem with the following idea: Say that you have a chessboard in front of you. If you were to place a grain of wheat on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourth and so on, each time doubling the amount of grains, how many grains of wheat would you need to cover the entire board?
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg201/reverendroyale/chess16-2.gif
You can look on the net but that won't be very FUN! the closest to it will win a king size mars bar @ XL when i turn up, have fun.:D
When the creator of the game of chess showed his invention to the ruler of the country, the ruler was so pleased that he gave the inventor the right to name his prize for the invention. The man, who was very wise, asked the king this: that for the first square of the chess board, he would receive one grain of wheat, two for the second one, four on the third one and so forth, doubling the amount each time. The ruler, who was not strong in math, quickly accepted the inventor's offer, even getting offended by his perceived notion that the inventor was asking for such a low price, and ordered the treasurer to count and hand over the wheat to the inventor. However, when the treasurer took more than a week to calculate the amount of wheat, the ruler asked him for a reason for his tardiness. The treasurer then gave him the result of the calculation, and explained that it would be impossible to give the inventor the reward. The ruler then, to get back at the inventor who tried to outsmart him, told the inventor that in order for him to receive his reward, he was to count every single grain that was given to him, in order to make sure that the ruler was not stealing from him.See if you can work this old math problem out with a pen and paper.
The wheat and chessboard problem is a mathematical problem with the following idea: Say that you have a chessboard in front of you. If you were to place a grain of wheat on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourth and so on, each time doubling the amount of grains, how many grains of wheat would you need to cover the entire board?
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg201/reverendroyale/chess16-2.gif
You can look on the net but that won't be very FUN! the closest to it will win a king size mars bar @ XL when i turn up, have fun.:D