(Music plays)

An animated clip shows a big orange X on a blue background. It explodes and letters and numbers come out of it in all directions and float around.

Mathemagician Eric appears on screen. He’s in his mid-twenties. He has short dark brown hair and a beard. He wears a red T-shirt with the show’s logo, blue jeans and red Tennis shoes.

The screen turns red and the logo of the show appears next. It reads "MathXplosion." Meanwhile, cones, cubes and dices float around it.

Kids voices sing a song with lyrics that go
WHAT A HIT
IT'S NOT A TRICK
IT'S MATHXPLOSION
JUST FOR YOU
COOL AND NEW
MATHXPLOSION!

The episode starts with Eric standing in a workroom, next to a large table with colourful paper sheets on it.

Eric says
HEY, DID YOU KNOW THAT THE
WORLD RECORD FOR FOLDING A
PIECE OF PAPER IN
HALF IS 12 TIMES?
SEEMS PRETTY EASY, RIGHT?
WELL, LET'S TRY IT OUT.
FIRST, WITH THIS
REGULAR PIECE OF PAPER.
NOTHING TO IT.
ONE, TWO, EASY PEASY.
THREE, IT'S GETTING
A LITTLE TOUGHER.
THAT'S FOUR.
OKAY.
FIVE.
SIX.

He takes a paper sheet and folds it six times. As he does it, the screen counts each folding step with a caption.

He continues
THAT'S NOWHERE NEAR 12.
HOW IN THE WORLD... CAN
ANYONE GET 12 FOLDS IN?

(music plays)

He unfolds the paper and, magically, the show’s logo appears printed on it. Eric looks thoughtful.

Next, he says I THINK I HAVE AN IDEA.
LET'S TRY IT.

(music plays)

He grabs a roll and a backpack and leaves. Next, he appears standing in a park.

He says THE REASON I CAN ONLY FOLD A
REGULAR SIZE SHEET OF PAPER
IN HALF SIX TIMES IS
BECAUSE OF ITS THICKNESS
AND THE SURFACE AREA
OF THE PIECE OF PAPER.
EVERY TIME I FOLD THE PAPER
IN HALF, THE NUMBER OF
LAYERS DOUBLES.
START WITH ONE, FOLD THAT IN
HALF, YOU NOW HAVE TWO LAYERS.
FOLD THOSE IN HALF,
YOU'RE AT FOUR.
FOLD THOSE IN HALF,
YOU HAVE EIGHT LAYERS.

A clip on screen shows the folding clip from before as a vintage sepia clip.

Eric continues
THIS EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF
THICKNESS MAKES FOLDING THE
PIECE OF PAPER IN HALF
OVER AND OVER REALLY HARD
REALLY QUICK.
MAYBE IT DEPENDS ON THE
KIND OF PAPER THAT YOU USE
AND THE LENGTH AND
THE THICKNESS.

Eric uses a large paper roll to cross a field from one side to the other.

He shouts
LET'S SEE HOW MANY TIMES
WE CAN FOLD THIS PIECE OF
PAPER IN HALF.

(music plays)

He starts folding as the clip on screen shows the captions for each folding step. The total is 8.

He says YOU SEE, THE SIZE AND THE
THICKNESS OF THE PAPER
WE STARTED OFF WITH ACTUALLY
LET ME FOLD IT A TOTAL
OF 8 TIMES.

(music plays)

Eric draws a circle and colours it inside. He taps on it and a new clip plays. An animated version of him appears holding a paper sheet. Next, an animates Britney Gallivan does her version of the folding.

Eric says SO WE WERE ABLE TO FOLD OUR
ROLL OF PAPER IN HALF 8 TIMES.
BUT THAT'S NOT NEAR AS MANY
TIMES AS BRITNEY GALLIVAN
WAS ABLE TO DO WITH HER
TOILET FOLDING EXPERIMENT.
SHE STARTED FOLDING VERY
THIN TOILET PAPER IN HALF
TRYING TO BREAK
A NEW RECORD.

The clip shows a few kids looking upset. Next, Britney gets an award and the audience cheers.

Eric continues
BEFORE HER EXPERIMENT, IT
WAS BELIEVED IMPOSSIBLE
TO FOLD ANYTHING IN HALF
MORE THAN EIGHT TIMES.
TURNS OUT BRITTANY WAS ABLE
TO FOLD THE PAPER 12 TIMES.
THAT'S AMAZING.

Eric appears back in the workroom.

He says SO THERE YOU HAVE IT.
I'VE SHARED ANOTHER
AMAZING SECRET.
HOW TO FOLD A PIECE OF PAPER
IN HALF 8 TIMES WITH
JUST A REGULAR ROLL
OF WRAPPING PAPER.
ENTERTAIN YOUR FRIENDS
AND FAMILY BY TRYING THIS
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
EXPERIMENT AT HOME.
HOW MANY FOLDS
CAN YOU MAKE?
AND, REMEMBER, IT'S
NOT MAGIC, IT'S MATH.


A big explosion brings the show’s logo back on the screen.

(music plays)

The end credits roll.

Produced by GAPC Entertainment in association with TVOKids.

Copyright GAPC Entertainment (MathPlosion) Incorporated, 2016.