one grain of rice a mathematical folktale

This problem is often referred to as the rice and/or wheat and chessboard problem: The inventor convinces the raja to give him a grain of rice on the first square on the chess board and to double that amount successively for each of the 64 squares on the board. In the original tale, Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles, the main character is an inventor of a new game called chess. One Grain of Rice Illustration, last page The growth factor for Rani’s rice reward is 2 because each successive term in the sequence can be obtained by multiplying the previous term by 2 (i.e., doubling). One Grain of Sand introduces children to the power of exponential growth.Īn exponential growth pattern is a pattern that grows by a factor greater than 1. Even if you’re not in the market for a picture book, click the link for some amazing cover art! Inspired by traditional Indian miniature paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Demi created the artwork using Chinese brushes and a variety of paints and inks.įor more of Demi’s books go here. The tale is beautifully accompanied by Demi’s intricate, gilded illustrations. The raja agrees, certain Rani has once again asked for too little. In addition to the one grain, Rani asks that the raja double that amount for each of 30 days: 1 grain of rice on day one, 2 grains on day two, 4 on day three, 8 on day four and so on. When Rani asks for a single grain of rice, the raja convinces her to ask for more. Obligated to reward Rani for returning the rice, the raja tells Rani to name her price. The raja had been hoarding all the rice in his land which led to famine for the villagers.

In the story, a young girl Rani, returns some spilled rice to the raja (another name for Indian king). One Grain of Rice is a mathematical folktale based on the Indian tale Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles recorded in Trickster Tales by I. When I started this blog in July, I planned to write about this book, but forgot all about it. Recently, I was thrilled to hear that One Grain of Rice was the “book of the week” in my son’s 2nd grade class.

One grain of rice a mathematical folktale