A single sheet of newspaper is .01 cm thick. Tear it in half and stack the two halves together. Tear the two halves in half and stack the 4 pieces together. Keep it up. How tall is the stack after 25 tears? How many tears do you need to get a stack that is 1 meter high?
| tears | thickness |
| 0 | 0.01 cm |
| 1 | 0.02 cm = 2 x 0.01 |
| 2 | 0.04 cm = 22 x 0.01 |
| 3 | 0.08 cm = 23 x 0.01 |
| . | |
| . | |
| . | |
| 13 | 81.92 cm = 213 x 0.01 |
| 14 | 163.84 cm = 214 x 0.01 |
| . | |
| . | |
| . | |
| 25 | 335544.32 cm = 3355.4432 m = 3.4 km |
By the 14th tear, you’ll have a stack more than 1 meter high. Try it!