# Cecil cheats.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-cheats/222>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 23, 1999, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-cheats/222 "1999-09-23T01:59:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 1999, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-cheats/222/1 "1999-09-23T01:59:00Z")

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In the article entitled “Can a piece of paper be folded in half no more than seven times?”:  
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a910705.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a910705.html)

Cecil, with the help of Ms. Adams, tests that old challenge.  
Unfortunately, instead of using paper (preferably an 8 1/2 x11 sheet), he uses metres of ultra-thin plastic.

Hardly the same thing.

When I tested the limits of that challenge as a child, I used single ply toilet paper, or seperated the sheets in paper towel, using a singly ply of that.  
It was usually possible to fold at least 8 times.

Given that he changed the constraints of the problem (which essentially is to fold 128 sheets of paper stacked together in half), I don’t think that counts as a fair answer.

And he didn’t even mention that interesting quality of the challenge. Namely: locate a flexible material of a certain thickness which cannot be folded, then divide by factors of two until you find a deceptively thin thickness that you can use to demonstrate the power of exponentiation.

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 1999, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-cheats/222/2 "1999-09-23T11:33:00Z")

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Funny, I just doubled over a piece of legal paper 8 times. Granted, that last fold isn’t exactly pretty, but it certainly accomplished the effort.

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 1999, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-cheats/222/3 "1999-09-23T21:18:00Z")

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Yeah, DS, well, sure, legal paper – legal paper has abilities to bend, fold, distort, twist, and deceive that ordinary paper doesn’t have.

Especially if the legal paper has divorce-related precedings on it.