Question

This problem comes from an old Indian folktale. A king is indebted to a young girl, and asks her what she wants as her reward. To the king’s surprise, the girl asks for a single grain of rice on the first day of the month, two grains of rice on the next day, four grains on the day after that, and to continue doubling the number of grains of rice she receives each day until the end of the month. Answer the following questions:

1. How many grains of rice will the girl receive on day 10 of the month? How many grains of rice will she receive in total, up through the 10th day of the month?

2. There are approximately 30,000 grains of rice in one pound. Write this number in scientific notation.

3. How many grains of rice will she receive on the 30th day of the month? Express your answer two different ways: one using exponents and the other in scientific notation.

4. How many pounds of rice will she receive in total for the entire month? Write your answer two different ways: one using exponents and the other in scientific notation.

Answer 1

The grains data is as shown below: