4 ms·

Or you could present them with the classic cognitive reflection question: A lake has one lily pad. Every day the number of lily pads doubles. After fifty days t

Or you could present them with the classic cognitive reflection question: A lake has one lily pad. Every day the number of lily pads doubles. After fifty days the lake is completely covered by lily pads. How many days did it take to cover half the lake with lily pads?

kspacewalk2 7y ago
Is there some parable about getting too excited about exponential growth and taking the extrapolation game way too far?
- fsckboy 7y ago
  Zeno concluded that all motion was an illusion, so that's taking things pretty far.
__s 7y ago
That's a big lake to have room for 1125899906842624 lily pads
- kspacewalk2 7y ago
  Nonsense. Nothing in the real world can impede the progress of endlessly extrapolating exponential growth and impressing your friends with Really Big Numbers.
- sk5t 7y ago
  Fortunately, it will only require space for 1125899906842623 pads.