A vexing problem of an old debt

Recently my friend Baldev Singh came running to me excitedly and in deep shock over a lawyer's notice received from a family in his native town Bhatinda in the Punjab.

Infact this family who are distantly related to my friend allege that one of their ancestors had lent a rupee at 4 percent interest per annum to my friend's ancestor when he was particularly going through great financial difficulties.

By the way a rupee in the good old days went far.

This family had chanced upon the document - a copper plate with details of this loan engraved on it during a recent excavation conducted by the Geological Survey of India which unearthed many facts of a bygone era around the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The court finally passed orders that the loan with interest can be recovered from the descendants of the borrower.The court was satisfied that the copper foil document was authentic and it did indeed belong to my friend's ancestor conclusively proving that he (my friend's ancestor) had indeed borrowed that one rupee.

The interest was to be calculated from 25th Dec., 0000 AD to 19th April 2006 AD @ 4%pa on Rupee one - the amount of loan. So the court decided to avoid all ambiguity.

Well... he asked for my advice. I told him that he must pay and settle this issue once and and for all and maintain amicable relations with his community in Bathinda.

Do you think that what I had advised him was correct.Being a little weak in maths he asked me how much should he pay!? I had never passed maths beyond high school in my life. Can you please let me know how much it amounts to?

Please do not bother if you do not know as I do not want to embarass you.

I shall however keep you informed of further developments in the case..only if you are interested. In any case let me know.

My friend has a lot of antique gold coins valued at Rs 1000 per gram.He is willing to settle this debt in gold. How many gold coins should he give in payment?

My friend, Sardar Baldev Singh says he is willing to pay even if it costs the earth (in gold!!) to safeguard his and his family's honour and reputation.

I jokingly told him that the earth weighs 5.9742*10^24 kgs.

However my light hearted remark seemed to fall flat as he deeply engrossed himself on the next course of action i.e., the correct amount to be paid back.

Do you think he will succeed in repaying the amount? I look forward to your suggestions.

Well, Baldev was fortunate in that he had other good friends. And he was advised by a business friend ( who went to school with him) that it would amount to a few lakhs of rupees at the utmost. Baldev came back to me a little dazed after hearing this amount .

I immediately got in touch with a famous financial expert who advises top Govt of India Institutions on very complicated and sensitive financial issues.

After an hour's effort he was nowhere near solving this problem; but he was kind enough not only in honestly expressing his inability to help us in this matter but was also generous in giving us a recommendation letter to a distinguished mathematician.

When we reached him at his residence in a hill station he had just woken up from a leisurely siesta and relaxing on his easy chair. He looked perfectly fit and in good health for his 70 years.
He welcomed us heartily (his cheerfulness perhaps explained his good health) and after the usual preliminary enquiries and introductions we broached our problem to him.

He laughed at our "troubles" and made fun of us to get agitated over so simple a matter. He recounted some really serious problems he had encountered while in service. He was in no hurry to solve our problem. He assured us of his help while tea was being served and we let it at that while we listened with awe to some of his exploits that involved mind boggling maths.

He asked his maid to get the computer up and going. He proudly said that she was an MSc in maths. We were impressed.

The calculations followed briskly making us gasp. We could never imagine a genius lived in iur midst. What followed was terribly shocking. Baldev can never in his dream pay the debt of his ancestor. Why? the calculations below gives you the answer.

(((1.04)^2006.313569282)/1000000)/(5.9742*10^24) = 2500 globes ... the actual size of the earth in weight and made of gold.

The End