Wheat and Chessboard Problem/19th Century Version
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Wheat and Chessboard Problem: 19th Century Version
It is calculated that $200$ pins go to the ounce.
Suppose that for the $52$ weeks in the year:
- one pin were dropped into the hold during the first week
- two in the second
- four in the third
and so on.
By the end of the year the weight of the whole would be no less than $628 \, 292\, 358$ tons of pins.
As the Great Eastern steamship was built to carry $22 \, 500$ tons only, it follows that to carry all the pins there would be required $27 \, 924$ ships of the size of the Great Eastern.
Sources
- 1881: Anonymous: Cassell's Book of In-Door Amusements, Card Games and Fireside Fun ... (previous): Arithmetical Puzzles: The Progression of Numbers
- 1992: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Sissa and the Chessboard: $46$