The Power of Multiplication

Some time ago there was a display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It featured a checkerboard with 1 grain of wheat on the first, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, then 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. Somewhere down the board, there were so many grains of wheat on the square that some were spilling over into neighboring squares – so here the demonstration stopped.

Above the checkerboard display was a question, ‘At this rate of doubling every square, how much grain would be on the checkerboards by the 64th square?’  To find the answer to this riddle, you punched a button on the console in front of you, and the answer flashed on a little screen above the board:

‘Enough to cover the entire subcontinent of India 50 feet deep.’

“Multiplication may be costly, and in the initial stages, much slower than addition, but in the long run, it is the most effective way of accomplishing Christ’s Great Commission . . . and the only way.” – Walter Henrichsen

Read more at bcwe.org.