100 Below: Volume 46

Hercules defeated the hydra, a monster that sprouted two heads for every head cut off, by cauterizing neck stumps as he cut off each head. His brother Mathematicus faced a second hydra. Mighty sword in hand, Mathematicus aimed a great blow right where the monster’s necks started branching. Whenever the heads resprouted, their number doubled: two, four, eight, sixteen… With only twelve cuts, Mathematicus gave the hydra 4,096 heads, and the beast could no longer move: there were too many heads for the body to support. And so the beast died, crushed by the power of the powers of 2.