The Rice Grain and the Chessboard
Once upon a time, there lived a mighty king. He was impressed by the intellect of one of the scholars in the kingdom and wanted to reward him. So, he said, "Wish for anything you want." The scholar said, "Kindly take a chessboard and place one rice grain on the first square. On the second square, place two rice grains. In a similar way, do it for all the squares on the chessboard. The number of grains on the next square should be double the number on the previous. I request you to give me the amount of the rice that ends up on the last square." The king laughed. He thought it was a very ordinary request. He ordered his councilmen to begin the counting of rice grains using a chessboard. As the king and the scholar waited, one of the councilmen came running to the king. "Your Majesty! Our royal rice treasury is nearly empty!" The king was shocked. The scholar smiled. ܀܀܀ Through this story, we can clearly see the power of compounding. It started with one r...
