# Paper folding question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-folding-question/52311 "2001-01-29T21:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakanapes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jakanapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakanapes)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-folding-question/52311/1 "2001-01-29T21:40:46Z")
Today I was sent the old adage about not being able to fold any piece of paper in half more than seven (7) times; to which I immediately responded with [this article](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a910705.html) from the SD archives. However, I got to thinking that there must be some kind of formula to figure out how many times you can fold a piece of paper in half given its three(3) dimentions. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-folding-question/52311/2 "2001-01-29T23:09:45Z")
I always heard it as 9. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-folding-question/52311/3 "2001-01-30T00:18:43Z")
The thickness doubles each time a sheet is folded in half, so powers of two works as a formula. 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096… For a sheet of paper 1/1000" thick folding it 9 times would result in a piece 512/1000, or half an inch, thick. The other (x,y) dimensions of the sheet, if folding to retain squareness, decreases by a factor of two for every two folds. Sooner or later the sheets x,y dimensions will be less than the thickness of the wad of paper-at which point it becomes impossible to fold without tearing. In practice, tearing probably happens well before this point.