Dream Math Helper
Written by Dong Yun Cho
When I opened my eyes, I saw Simon sitting down on his typist’s chair and enjoying his meal.
“Oh man, he is still here?” I mumbled with a tiny voice.
Why do I hate Simon? Here is the reason: he is so creepy, boring and the laziest person in the world and that person is my math teacher. During the whole class time, he gives us math problems. As soon as he writes down all the problems, he goes back to his seat and took his meal. What is wrong about this? See one of the questions and consider how the question is.
Shepherd was traveling with a wolf, and a sheep with a cabbage. They needed to cross the river. However, when the shepherd rode on a boat, he could take only one with him. However, if he left the wolf and the sheep, then the wolf would eat the sheep and if he left the sheep and the cabbage, then the sheep would eat the cabbage. Then how could the shepherd cross the river safely?
See? How silly the question is. Why the shepherd would travel with a wolf? Why don’t they just not cross the river so that I don’t need to solve this silly question. A while later, the ending ring rings and the hell ends.
“Hooray! The hell just ended,” I said.
“Hahahaha, Dean why you don’t like Math,?” my best friend Derek asked.
“Math is useless in our society, then why should I study for?”
“No, you don’t know, but it used……”
Derek is really good at Math. Whenever he had a math test, he always got an A or A+, but only that. I was always better than him in all subjects except for that silly math. I gestured to stop what he was trying to say. He recognized my sign and stopped right away and said, “Ok, good bye and see you tomorrow.” When I came back home, I just didn’t feel to do my homework, so I just lay on my bed and closed my eyes and involuntarily slept.
In the dream, I became a tiny person. Even flowers were taller and bigger than me. Suddenly I heard a man’s deep and attractive voice.
“Math is interesting. Math is fundamental. Math is infinity. Math is confidential…,” a man’s deep voice always started with Math. I was just hearing the sound and I involuntarily spoke out. “Don’t be silly yourself. Math is the most ridiculous and the most useless subject in the…,” I tried to stop saying but it was too late. A sound vanished and only silent circled around me.
Suddenly, a red object grabbed my collar, and shook me, and said, “What did you say? Math is useless?” he undid grabbing and asked. “If you really think it is useless, then solve this question. 11 multiplied by 11 is 121, 111 multiplied by 111 is 12321, then what is the result of 1111 * 1111?”
As soon as I heard numbers, my brain changed like a piece of paper, so I just mumbled. “Um…”
He responded, “See? You even don’t know the simplest pattern which is called number 11’s multiplication.” I felt angry, but I could say nothing, because I knew it was my fault. A few seconds later, I said, “ok fine, I was rude. Let’s deal. If you make me interested in math, then I will try to like math.”
“Ha, that is really easy for me. I will explain the pattern of 11’s multiplication for you. 11*11 was 121 and 111*111 was 12321 right? Then it is obvious that answer of 1111*1111 would be 1234321”
“What kind of explanation is that”
“ha, sorry to hear that you still didn’t find any clues about this pattern. Ok, come here”
He drew with a wooden stick on the ground:
11*11= 121, 111*111= 12321, then 1111*1111=?
At this point, I could see that numbers increasing and then decreasing. I used his wooden stick and then wrote 1234321 and asked. “Am I right?” he responded, “Yes, you are right. Can you tell me how did you solve this?” “Um…so I saw number and it was increasing and then decreasing. I mean in 121, “1” went to “2” and then back to “1” and also in 12321 “1” went to “2” and then “3” and back to “2” then “1”. So I guessed the next would be 1234321, which is answer of 1111*1111.”
He clapped with smiling and said, “Yes, you are right. See, if you try to solve the question then you can.”
I didn’t notice what he was talking, but from somewhere in my body, I felt something excited. When I was enjoying that feeling, I woke up and it was time to go school. I looked at my schedule sheet, and there was a red big circle, which represented most dislike subject, Math. When I got to math classroom, I had a short conversation with my friends and sat down.
Same as any normal days, Simon appeared his big fatty body with McDonald hamburgers. As soon as, he got to his seat, he said, “Hi everyone, today I want to announce these brilliant math students in front of our class. If you name call out, then please go in front of classroom. Miguel, David, Jack…” I surprised, because there wasn’t me. “…and Dean who got a “F” in math test again.” “Oh Man.” “Listen careful you four. I will give you extra works, You can’t go back your house, until you solve this question.”
Imagine you have three hourglasses: 4 minutes of hourglass, 7 minutes of hourglass and an empty hourglass. By using these hourglasses, how can we measure exactly 9 minutes.
“Gosh. I really scorn you, Simon.” I said in my mind. According to what Red object told me in the dream, I tried to concentrate and solve it. However, only a piece of A4 paper was filled with black ink.”
When it pointed 5:00, Simon’s belly clock rang and said to us, “Now, go away and make sure to finish this question by tomorrow, especially you Dean!”
“Ok, I will.” When I got out from there, I sighed. I went back home and finished my homework, except for Math. I lay on my bed, and then slept again.
This time, I was in the desert, and heard a sound. It was same as what I heard yesterday. I yelled at him. “Hey!!!!!” Sound became silent and he suddenly appeared in front of me. I fell down, because I surprised. “Gosh. Please, don’t make me surprise. I don’t like this” “Ha, sorry little kid. Oh what is your name by the way? I am Howard” “I am Dean. Hey Howard please explain me how to solve this question.” I showed on the ground and he nodded. “Oh, this is totally different type of question from yesterday. I usually called this as Imaginary figure question.” “What the…” “Ok listen, so imagine that u have 4 minutes of hourglass and 7minutes of hourglass.”
Suddenly, two hourglasses which I imagined appeared on my eye sights. I don’t know he would read my mind or not, at that time, but he said,
“Oh this is feasible, because we are in your dream.”
“Oh that’s why” I responded
We just determined to focus on what we were doing. He used to use his hands to explain, but I couldn’t understand anything. I just kept nodded. After he finished his explaining, he made me solve myself. Well obviously I didn’t listen his talking, so there’s nothing I could do. “I don’t know” Howard said, “You said, you understood all and now you are saying you don’t know how to do it?” he seemed like really angry. Actually, he is kind of short –tempered. His head became bigger and bigger like a balloon. I recognized the situation and said, “Sorry Howard, tell me one more time, then I will… no must concentrate this time for sure.” Well, I didn’t know what just happened, but his head changed rapidly to normal.
Then, he continued, “Start both of them together. When 4 minutes of hourglass fell down, made it fell down again. After 7 minutes of hourglass fell down, made it fell again. When 4 minutes of hourglass fell down again, turn over the 7 minutes of hourglass, then we can measure exactly 9 minutes.”
“Oh, now I got it.”
Today was also the same, I got the right answer, and then I woke up again. I wrote down what I understood and it was right. This dream continued for a long time. I didn’t notice, but somehow I became good at math. At first, Simon was suspicious me that weather I cheated or not, especially When I got “B” for next math test, but later he realized and recognized my math skills.
We continued this about two months, and my math skills sudden improved a lot. My best friend and also a math genius also recognized that I am good at math, because my calculating speed was always faster than others, so Howard gave me a nickname: “Human Calculator” When we met, he usually called me like this: “Hey Human Calculator” I didn’t like this, but whatever, if I resisted about him, then he will angry again, so I just gave up to make a complain.
One day, he suddenly made a question and made me solve it myself. I felt something different, because he always taught me basic first. Anyway, I didn’t notice the difference at that time and just focused on the question. It was solving the sum from 1 to 100.
I wrote down on the ground.
1+2+3+…+99+100
However, there was nothing I could do, except for calculating directly. When I saw Howard’s face, his face was like looking at a silly boy.
I said, “What?” He just shook his head and made me keep solving. At least, he was a person who always gave me a hint, but today he wasn’t. There was only a number, 101, but I didn’t notice what it was. Suddenly, I noticed that 101 was the sum of pairs of number. “I have 50 pairs of 101. Um… oh yeah now I got it. 101 multiplied by 50 equals to 5050. Am I right?” I pointed the answer and he looked at me and showed his endemic smiling. “Yes, it is” However, this time I couldn’t feel a feeling which I felt whenever I solved the questions.
Howard said, “Hey Dean, you know what? Today was the last lesson.”
I said, “What? What are you talking about?”
“Well, well, I think you are now enough to solve your math without my helping.”
“No, I am not. If you didn’t write 101 on the ground, then I couldn’t notice it. I swear.”
“It was my test for checking your ability, and you corrected. Furthermore, I believed that you don’t need any helps from now. Ha, dude I also don’t want to say good bye with you, but it is time. Good Bye, and Enjoy your math. I will be everywhere, if there is anything related with Math.”
When he ended his speaking, he vanished with a giant hurricane and I woke up. I looked at the clock and it pointed 6 in the morning, so I tried to sleep again, but I couldn’t.
I believed that if I keep studying math and when I met complicated question, then he would come back again. However, it didn’t happen. From that time, 19 years have passed. I became a mathematician and my hobby is sleeping. Why? because, I am still waiting him inside of my dream. If he saw this somehow, I just hoped that he came back to my dream as same as 19 years ago.
Edited by Mr.Krahn
“Oh man, he is still here?” I mumbled with a tiny voice.
Why do I hate Simon? Here is the reason: he is so creepy, boring and the laziest person in the world and that person is my math teacher. During the whole class time, he gives us math problems. As soon as he writes down all the problems, he goes back to his seat and took his meal. What is wrong about this? See one of the questions and consider how the question is.
Shepherd was traveling with a wolf, and a sheep with a cabbage. They needed to cross the river. However, when the shepherd rode on a boat, he could take only one with him. However, if he left the wolf and the sheep, then the wolf would eat the sheep and if he left the sheep and the cabbage, then the sheep would eat the cabbage. Then how could the shepherd cross the river safely?
See? How silly the question is. Why the shepherd would travel with a wolf? Why don’t they just not cross the river so that I don’t need to solve this silly question. A while later, the ending ring rings and the hell ends.
“Hooray! The hell just ended,” I said.
“Hahahaha, Dean why you don’t like Math,?” my best friend Derek asked.
“Math is useless in our society, then why should I study for?”
“No, you don’t know, but it used……”
Derek is really good at Math. Whenever he had a math test, he always got an A or A+, but only that. I was always better than him in all subjects except for that silly math. I gestured to stop what he was trying to say. He recognized my sign and stopped right away and said, “Ok, good bye and see you tomorrow.” When I came back home, I just didn’t feel to do my homework, so I just lay on my bed and closed my eyes and involuntarily slept.
In the dream, I became a tiny person. Even flowers were taller and bigger than me. Suddenly I heard a man’s deep and attractive voice.
“Math is interesting. Math is fundamental. Math is infinity. Math is confidential…,” a man’s deep voice always started with Math. I was just hearing the sound and I involuntarily spoke out. “Don’t be silly yourself. Math is the most ridiculous and the most useless subject in the…,” I tried to stop saying but it was too late. A sound vanished and only silent circled around me.
Suddenly, a red object grabbed my collar, and shook me, and said, “What did you say? Math is useless?” he undid grabbing and asked. “If you really think it is useless, then solve this question. 11 multiplied by 11 is 121, 111 multiplied by 111 is 12321, then what is the result of 1111 * 1111?”
As soon as I heard numbers, my brain changed like a piece of paper, so I just mumbled. “Um…”
He responded, “See? You even don’t know the simplest pattern which is called number 11’s multiplication.” I felt angry, but I could say nothing, because I knew it was my fault. A few seconds later, I said, “ok fine, I was rude. Let’s deal. If you make me interested in math, then I will try to like math.”
“Ha, that is really easy for me. I will explain the pattern of 11’s multiplication for you. 11*11 was 121 and 111*111 was 12321 right? Then it is obvious that answer of 1111*1111 would be 1234321”
“What kind of explanation is that”
“ha, sorry to hear that you still didn’t find any clues about this pattern. Ok, come here”
He drew with a wooden stick on the ground:
11*11= 121, 111*111= 12321, then 1111*1111=?
At this point, I could see that numbers increasing and then decreasing. I used his wooden stick and then wrote 1234321 and asked. “Am I right?” he responded, “Yes, you are right. Can you tell me how did you solve this?” “Um…so I saw number and it was increasing and then decreasing. I mean in 121, “1” went to “2” and then back to “1” and also in 12321 “1” went to “2” and then “3” and back to “2” then “1”. So I guessed the next would be 1234321, which is answer of 1111*1111.”
He clapped with smiling and said, “Yes, you are right. See, if you try to solve the question then you can.”
I didn’t notice what he was talking, but from somewhere in my body, I felt something excited. When I was enjoying that feeling, I woke up and it was time to go school. I looked at my schedule sheet, and there was a red big circle, which represented most dislike subject, Math. When I got to math classroom, I had a short conversation with my friends and sat down.
Same as any normal days, Simon appeared his big fatty body with McDonald hamburgers. As soon as, he got to his seat, he said, “Hi everyone, today I want to announce these brilliant math students in front of our class. If you name call out, then please go in front of classroom. Miguel, David, Jack…” I surprised, because there wasn’t me. “…and Dean who got a “F” in math test again.” “Oh Man.” “Listen careful you four. I will give you extra works, You can’t go back your house, until you solve this question.”
Imagine you have three hourglasses: 4 minutes of hourglass, 7 minutes of hourglass and an empty hourglass. By using these hourglasses, how can we measure exactly 9 minutes.
“Gosh. I really scorn you, Simon.” I said in my mind. According to what Red object told me in the dream, I tried to concentrate and solve it. However, only a piece of A4 paper was filled with black ink.”
When it pointed 5:00, Simon’s belly clock rang and said to us, “Now, go away and make sure to finish this question by tomorrow, especially you Dean!”
“Ok, I will.” When I got out from there, I sighed. I went back home and finished my homework, except for Math. I lay on my bed, and then slept again.
This time, I was in the desert, and heard a sound. It was same as what I heard yesterday. I yelled at him. “Hey!!!!!” Sound became silent and he suddenly appeared in front of me. I fell down, because I surprised. “Gosh. Please, don’t make me surprise. I don’t like this” “Ha, sorry little kid. Oh what is your name by the way? I am Howard” “I am Dean. Hey Howard please explain me how to solve this question.” I showed on the ground and he nodded. “Oh, this is totally different type of question from yesterday. I usually called this as Imaginary figure question.” “What the…” “Ok listen, so imagine that u have 4 minutes of hourglass and 7minutes of hourglass.”
Suddenly, two hourglasses which I imagined appeared on my eye sights. I don’t know he would read my mind or not, at that time, but he said,
“Oh this is feasible, because we are in your dream.”
“Oh that’s why” I responded
We just determined to focus on what we were doing. He used to use his hands to explain, but I couldn’t understand anything. I just kept nodded. After he finished his explaining, he made me solve myself. Well obviously I didn’t listen his talking, so there’s nothing I could do. “I don’t know” Howard said, “You said, you understood all and now you are saying you don’t know how to do it?” he seemed like really angry. Actually, he is kind of short –tempered. His head became bigger and bigger like a balloon. I recognized the situation and said, “Sorry Howard, tell me one more time, then I will… no must concentrate this time for sure.” Well, I didn’t know what just happened, but his head changed rapidly to normal.
Then, he continued, “Start both of them together. When 4 minutes of hourglass fell down, made it fell down again. After 7 minutes of hourglass fell down, made it fell again. When 4 minutes of hourglass fell down again, turn over the 7 minutes of hourglass, then we can measure exactly 9 minutes.”
“Oh, now I got it.”
Today was also the same, I got the right answer, and then I woke up again. I wrote down what I understood and it was right. This dream continued for a long time. I didn’t notice, but somehow I became good at math. At first, Simon was suspicious me that weather I cheated or not, especially When I got “B” for next math test, but later he realized and recognized my math skills.
We continued this about two months, and my math skills sudden improved a lot. My best friend and also a math genius also recognized that I am good at math, because my calculating speed was always faster than others, so Howard gave me a nickname: “Human Calculator” When we met, he usually called me like this: “Hey Human Calculator” I didn’t like this, but whatever, if I resisted about him, then he will angry again, so I just gave up to make a complain.
One day, he suddenly made a question and made me solve it myself. I felt something different, because he always taught me basic first. Anyway, I didn’t notice the difference at that time and just focused on the question. It was solving the sum from 1 to 100.
I wrote down on the ground.
1+2+3+…+99+100
However, there was nothing I could do, except for calculating directly. When I saw Howard’s face, his face was like looking at a silly boy.
I said, “What?” He just shook his head and made me keep solving. At least, he was a person who always gave me a hint, but today he wasn’t. There was only a number, 101, but I didn’t notice what it was. Suddenly, I noticed that 101 was the sum of pairs of number. “I have 50 pairs of 101. Um… oh yeah now I got it. 101 multiplied by 50 equals to 5050. Am I right?” I pointed the answer and he looked at me and showed his endemic smiling. “Yes, it is” However, this time I couldn’t feel a feeling which I felt whenever I solved the questions.
Howard said, “Hey Dean, you know what? Today was the last lesson.”
I said, “What? What are you talking about?”
“Well, well, I think you are now enough to solve your math without my helping.”
“No, I am not. If you didn’t write 101 on the ground, then I couldn’t notice it. I swear.”
“It was my test for checking your ability, and you corrected. Furthermore, I believed that you don’t need any helps from now. Ha, dude I also don’t want to say good bye with you, but it is time. Good Bye, and Enjoy your math. I will be everywhere, if there is anything related with Math.”
When he ended his speaking, he vanished with a giant hurricane and I woke up. I looked at the clock and it pointed 6 in the morning, so I tried to sleep again, but I couldn’t.
I believed that if I keep studying math and when I met complicated question, then he would come back again. However, it didn’t happen. From that time, 19 years have passed. I became a mathematician and my hobby is sleeping. Why? because, I am still waiting him inside of my dream. If he saw this somehow, I just hoped that he came back to my dream as same as 19 years ago.
Edited by Mr.Krahn