According to fable the inventor of chess was asked by his king what he would like for a reward. He asked for one grain of rice on the first square of the board, two on the second, four on the third, etc. etc.
This is exponential growth resulting in more grain than exists in the whole world and, in some versions of the fable, the execution of the inventor.
| 1000 AD | Persians or Indians? | Grains of wheat on a chessboard |
| 1973 AD | Black, Scholes & Merton | Black-Scholes |