Fourteen-year-old Suvir Mirchandani, found a way to make use of his sixth grade science fair project when it came to the fonts and that the government handouts use. His project tested the amount of ink used with various fonts. It turns out that switching from Times New Roman to Garamond would save the school district $21,000 a year with regards to ink cost. His teacher was so impressed that he sent it to the Journal of Emerging Investigators.
He tested various font styles such as Century Gothic. Mirchandani did not alter the font size just the styles. Since Garamond is more space efficient, this would save lots of money in the long run. He tested five documents from the the Government Printing Office, concluded that the federal government could save $136 million a year. This is amazing considering the fact that the annual ink budget for 2014 is roughly $1.8 billion Even Dr. Sarah Fankhauser said, “We really could see the real-word application in Suvir’s paper.”
Even though many documents are being converted digitally, Survir Michandani insists that his project can still be very beneficial. Not everything physical document can be digitized, and not everybody has access to the internet, and some people prefer physical handouts. He says, “Some things still have to printed.”
This isn’t the first time a school oriented science project has yielded a strong worldwide application, and it won’t be the last. This just really demonstrates the power of the mind, and what can be accomplished by anyone of any age.