Stories tagged “Math”
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MMM (Mystery Math Message)
One day a mysterious message showed up written very small in the lower corner of the chalk boared someone wrote. √-1 2^3 Σ π, and I liked it. No one knew what it meant. It looked like a whacked out math problem that someone made up. The teacher urg...
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MMM (continued)
A side ways M what could that mean. I recall seeing it with an ∞ above it and an n=1 below it. It had something to so with sequences and patterns. But the ∞ that had something to do with a theorem. Especially if I’m right about it relating to...
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Can Not Concentrate
I glance at the clock after finally finishing my math homework. The clock stated blankly 5:58 pm. I sighed and calculated that it had taken me an hour and fifteen minutes longer than normal to do my math. I put my math away and pulled out my English. I...
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Cartesian Core
Starting bootup sequence… Loading: - english.lang - logic.core - math.core - video.sense - audio.sense - touch.sense - smell.sense - taste.sense - sixth.sense - common.sense Running sanity checks… 2 + 2 = 4 e = 2.718281828459045… pi =...
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God: Hope He's Into Numbers
I don’t have to go far to find a place to wash the sticky feelings from my mind. You never do in a city this size. Holy water may cleanse the soul, but liquor works better on the mind. Given that I’m barely maintaining a grip on the latter ...
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Math is Out to Get Me
2 plus 2 is… Gah! Idiot numbers, always chasing me around. Yeah I memorized my times tables but that was in fourth grade! Fourth. I know enough to get by. Can’t that puh-lees be enough??? Sitting in the passenger seat, counting off the time...
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God's True Word
Patterns swirling in the haze, Pieces, fitting together like clockwork. Colors flying around to music, To beauty, to logic . Rules in the framework of reality, Hidden, but omnipresent, Governing each movement, Each reaction, each result. Painting pictu...
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that's one way to get math help
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” The dispatcher clicked his headset. “I need help.” Came the small boy’s voice from the other end. “What’s wrong?” The man’s deep voice was a stark contrast to the bo...
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Talking to Your Food
“I—I thought you were my friend!” she sobbed. I smiled down at her. “I am your friend. That’s why I’m going to eat you.” “But—I don’t wanna die!” I stroked her hair gently. “You’re n...
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Find The Equation
Before leaving, I stop into the bathroom to splash some cold water in my face. I take a deep, shuddering breath and work the water into my skin. The callouses on my fingers grind against my weekend beard. I look up and see a single little vein creeping...
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Elevator
I walk into the elevator. I’m on the sixth floor and in a rush to get home and clear my head. I press the “1” button and assault the “Door Close” button with my finger until the metal doors shut with an almost silent slidi...
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Math, Memories, and Hurting People
6 grand had been turned into 4 guns, 2 lbs of explosives, and 200 rounds of ammunition. 38 hours in town so he now had 62 hours before it would be too late. Based on his math, he could afford to wait out the glaring daylight hours in a cheap motel room...
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Musing on First Contact
“What if I were the person to make extraterrestrial contact?” she asked of her computer screen. It was her favorite part of the day, the time directly after she’d started code compiling, or simulations simulating. The blessed interval...
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Random walk
I know a mathematician’s an unlikely survivor. But it’s not axiomatic. By the time I realized I was in trouble, there was only one way to go: up. I locked the door, made sure the windows were secure, and ran up to the second floor. I peeked...
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47 Minutes with Hugh Vance
Hugh Vance is three-fourths Raskolnikov and four-fifths Sindbad the Sailor. There’s some overlap there, yes. He is also one-sixteenth Cherokee which explains his cheekbones but not his public hobbies. The Byronic hero he longed to be was more flummox...
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Applied Mathematics
I woke shivering. Lack of water had sent me into bizarre feverish dreams: something about a mysterious man and a secret formula. Then I heard scrabbling and thumping at the floor and remembered that my reality was even worse. I sat up and was rummaging...
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Deadline
“The last backup battery just died.” The flight director finally laid his head on his desk. “So, that’s it, then? The world’s done for, and we have no way to bring our probe back.” If only everyone could know just ho...
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"Not For Math!"
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” The dispatcher clicked his headset. “I need help.” Came the small boy’s voice from the other end. “What’s wrong?” The man’s deep voice was a stark contrast to the boy’s high pitched one. “My math!
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Logic, Emotion, and Mathematics
Gravity was my Key I pushed myself up off the cold ground. Rocks from the road clung to my nakedness. I brushed them away with a shaking hand. Even though I had starved myself relentlessly to get my weight down, it hadn’t been enough to allow me ...
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A Guide to Getting Published-- Believe In Yourself
I’m gawking At the stalking offspring Talking about offering Cacophonies of thought When more often than not The self taught Get bought off shelves And sell for being themselves— They don’t have to follow what’s hot Or swallow ...
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Subbing
Walking into the math class, the teacher glanced around with some trepidation. Occasionally having to be a substitute had recently become part of his job, but walking into a math class was always accompanied by a certain amount of fear. It wasn’t...
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Bide Your Time
Thursday, April 2nd, 2:30pm. A rumpled-looking kid sitting in the middle of the room uneasily raises his hand. “Can you go over problem number thirteen on the notes please?” A tall man leaning carelessly against the well-organized desk at t...