A Grain of Rice

How much does it cost....a grain of rice?   After my presentation at YBA Convention on Mauai, Rev. John gave me an idea of how much would a grain of rice cost?  I thought it was very interesting to know the value of a grain of rice, but at the same time I knew it would take time to find an answer.

Yesterday, I had a great idea.  Instead of my finding the answer, I thought I should let my son to calculate it because he said he was bored.  So I asked him, "Can you get an answer for me.....how much does a grain of rice cost?"   I was right.  He showed his interest in calculating this answer.

So I provided him a scale, a measuring cup, a calculator, and rice.  I also told him that 20 lbs rice costs about $11 in Hawaii now.   I didn't say anything about how to calculate it but he brought the answer with a piece of paper after a short while.

According to my son, a grain of rice costs $0.0000137816979.  This means 10,000 grains of rice cost 13 cents.  It sounded correct, but I felt it was necessary to check if this was right.  So I decided to take time for that!!!

First, I measured 1/2 oz Rice and then started to count grains of rice.

Oh, my goodness...It did take time to count grain of rice...even just for 1/2 rice.    There was 785 grains of rice in the picture above which weighed 1/2 oz.

This means,

1/2 oz.....785 grains of rice

1 oz ......1570 grains of rice

16oz =1lbs.... 25,120 grains of rice

320 oz=20lbs.....502,400 grains of rice

and my answer is,

A grain of rice....$.0000218.

10,000 grains of rice.....21.8 cents.

After calculating this answer, all of a sudden, I thought there must be an answer on the internet!!!  To my surprise, there are actually many sites to introduce how much does a grain of rice cost.

I've checked most of the sites but the best answer I thought was a Yahoo answer in Japanese, called "Yahoo Chiebukuro."

They calculated there were 3250 grains of cooked rice in the regular bowl.  

This means, one regular bowl of cooked rice costs about 8 cents here in Hawaii, according to my calculation.

If you suspect this answer, please try to find the answer by yourself!