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Thursday, July 23, 2009

7x7

I woke up to the tune of no fever, la la la la dee da da da, which is an excellent way to start the day. Okay, in actuality it looked more like 98.6, but as a rule I like songs and words better than numbers and will never stop trying to replace the latter with the former.


But I wouldn't recommend doing that on your math test. It doesn't work. You know what else doesn't work on your math test? Wracking your brain for the answer to the problem 7x7 and, after your teacher who is also your beloved mom notices that you haven't scratched any answers onto the test paper for a good 30 seconds, tells you that your brain is like a computer and stores away all the information that you know; simply go through your files and the answer will appear, you try to do just that. But the safari that runs the math part of your brain quits on you unexpectedly and there is no tech support to whom you can send the error, or maybe there is but it's just your brother and in all fairness that would probably be cheating, so you sit there and wait and wait and hope that in the same way people still knew math before computers in real life since they built bridges and made up geometry and one of them was named Albert Einstein, you still might have a clue as to what 7x7 is even though your brain has so obviously not computerized yet.

But the answer doesn't appear. And the 4 and the 9, linked together like a little rescue team out of the sea of infinity, never does float into the forefront of your mind. So shamefully, you are forced to hand in the math test like this: 7x7=
Even though you know for a fact that 7x7 does not = NOTHING; it does not equal BIG EMPTY SPACE.

And that empty space speaks not only of your need to further study the multiplication table, but also to the fact that if your brain is truly a computer than it is decidedly missing some files. Or at least one file. The file that looks like this: 7x7=49
Forty-nine. Like that football team from California. Forty-nine. Is that so very hard? And though you'll go on to get a degree at a school that gives you the option of either math or science, and of course you choose science, you will never ever forget that 7x7=49.

And since we're on numbers here, I have some more numbers for you. We just recently weighed our large orange striped cat, Taliesin, and discovered that he weighs exactly 100 lbs less than me.

How much do you think he weighs?

14 comments:

kathiek said...

Glad you're feeling better, Jess!

jason said...

290 pounds.

Jessica, 7x7, that's an easy one! It's 7 less than 7x8, which is 56, and only 7 more than 7x6, which is clearly 42. Also, the number that multiply against themselves form a fun easy to remember patter 1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81, 100 ... see it yet? No?

Okay, so maybe it's not all that easy after all.

jason said...

ps. I would have counted on my fingers to seven seven times before I would have left that blank!

Jessica said...

Ok, wrong on the guess, Jase. But very very close.
And, if you'll recall, I was instructed to search for a file and NOT count on my fingers...and yes, I totally know that 7x6=42 and that 7x8=56. THOSE were not the problem!!!

peaj said...

I had a similar experience with seven times seven. I was having an oral quiz on the times table (oh, joy), and when I was asked about 7x7 I answered "48". Hey, pretty close, right? But no partial credit on the times table, apparently. I was embarrassed, and so I've never forgotten 7x7. We're friends now; it has a certain beauty to it. The square of two, and the square of three, but not the square of twenty-three.

Taliesin must weigh -5 pounds. Was he full of helium?

Michele said...

Tally weights 12 lbs!

Jessica said...

Ha! Peaj, -5?!?!?! You must think I am a wraith!!!

Michele, you flatter me!

nobody's gotten it yet;-)

Mandy Hornbuckle said...

Your posts always make me laugh. I can SO relate to the math thing. And to the Safari crashing thing!

I think he must weigh 20 pounds (since he looks about as big as Maggie and I know how tall you are!) :)

So glad you're fever is gone! La la la la dee da da da! (Imagine that in a better singing voice than I have, and it's much more plesant) ;-)

Jenna Latshaw said...

5x5

peaj said...

You must think I am a wraith!!!

If the painful high-heeled dancing shoe fits...

Anonymous said...

5X5

Jessica said...

5x5 right back at ya, my friends...

Peaj--what is it about 49 that made it so darned illusive in our elementary days?!?! But yes, I have since befriended it, too--though I wouldn't have thought to mention all the squares so thank you for that;-)

Mandy--yours has been the closest guess so far...

Jessica said...

oh. and Tally weighs...drumroll, please...18lbs!!!!

Mandy Hornbuckle said...

Woohoo! I was close!

That's a BIG cat!