Greece

Ever wondered how many grains of sand would fit in the universe?

One of the greatest mathematicians of all time, Archimedes, did so, already in 300 BC. In one of his most famous works, “The Sand Reckoner,” he sets out to calculate the number of grains of sand in the known universe. It’s seen as the first popular math book. Archimedes had to invent a way to talk about extremely large numbers to manage it.

The result? About 10^63 grains of sand. Printed in the usual way, a one followed by 63 zeros. And the largest number anyone had ever used.

Counting grains of sand helped lay the foundation for modern mathematics and science.

P.S. Years later, when calculating the nr of grains on Earth, yes, someone did just that, Archimedes’ method was a part.

Every AKIN jewelry piece contains sand from every country in the world plus sand from a secret sand mix. From over 220 locations. How many grains of sand does that make? Unclear.