We all know by now that compound interest is hard to visualize. As early as 1256 AD, storytellers began recording the wheat and chessboard problem. It’s a story where a king agrees to reward a subject with one grain of wheat on the first square of a board, two on the second square… and continues doubling the amount until the 64th square is reached. The ruler quickly realizes his mistake. By the 32nd square, he owes roughly 279 metric tons of wheat. And if we add up everything to the 64th square, the king wo ...