Post by dragonbat on Mar 6, 2010 6:25:12 GMT 10
Title: A Simple Idea
Rating: G
Length: 474
Competitor: Faleron
Round/Fight: 2/A
Summary: His mathematics assignment isn't the only thing Faleron can't understand.
Math is like love; A simple idea, but it can get complicated. (R. Drabek)
Faleron looked at the math problem one more time and winced.
A palace courtyard has two walls that measure twenty feet in length, and two walls that measure sixteen. In the center of the courtyard, there is a round fishpond, which measures eight feet across at its widest. What is the area of the courtyard, exclusive of the pond?
How much water can the pond hold, if its base measures four feet across, it top measures eight feet, its walls are six inches thick, and it is forty inches high?
Area. Faleron chewed the top of his quill absently. So, twenty plus twenty plus sixteen plus sixteen was... he closed his eyes. That was the perimeter, not the area! Area was... was one-half base times height, so four times forty, divided by two... He swept the papers off his desk in frustration, nearly sending the inkpot flying as well. He needed help. He needed Kel.
He smiled ruefully. Mathematics couldn’t be completely bad if it gave him an excuse to be in Kel’s company. At first, he hadn’t known what to think of the first girl to train openly as a page within living memory. Over the last year and a half, though, he had come first to respect, later to accept, and finally to like her. Recently, he’d found himself looking for excuses to spend more time with her, without drawing taunts and snide comments from some of his classmates. Well. His mathematics drew enough of those without bringing Kel into the picture.
She was good at this stuff. And she wouldn’t make him feel like a fool for not understanding it himself. Yes, he would talk to Kel about this. If he hurried, he might be able to get to her room before the rest of the study group arrived.
He found her door open when he got there, a sure sign that she wasn’t alone. He could hear Nealan of Queenscove practicing his declamation for tomorrow’s rhetoric class. He stifled a groan. Not only would he have to wait until the others left, but he’d been so caught up in his mathematics assignment that he hadn’t even selected a text yet. He’d have to go to the library after this and pray that his classmates hadn’t signed out all of the speech collections already. He sighed.
His gaze fell upon Kel. She hadn’t seen him, yet. In fact, he realized with a pang, she was totally focused on Queenscove. And the yearning expressed in those dreamy hazel eyes...
Abruptly, Faleron spun on his heel and trotted away. Kel loved... Neal? How could she? Neal was annoying. More than that, he was fickle, stuck up, argumentative—it just didn’t add up!
Somehow, though, Faleron had a feeling that this was one problem he’d be better off not approaching Kel for help solving.
Rating: G
Length: 474
Competitor: Faleron
Round/Fight: 2/A
Summary: His mathematics assignment isn't the only thing Faleron can't understand.
A Simple Idea
Math is like love; A simple idea, but it can get complicated. (R. Drabek)
Faleron looked at the math problem one more time and winced.
A palace courtyard has two walls that measure twenty feet in length, and two walls that measure sixteen. In the center of the courtyard, there is a round fishpond, which measures eight feet across at its widest. What is the area of the courtyard, exclusive of the pond?
How much water can the pond hold, if its base measures four feet across, it top measures eight feet, its walls are six inches thick, and it is forty inches high?
Area. Faleron chewed the top of his quill absently. So, twenty plus twenty plus sixteen plus sixteen was... he closed his eyes. That was the perimeter, not the area! Area was... was one-half base times height, so four times forty, divided by two... He swept the papers off his desk in frustration, nearly sending the inkpot flying as well. He needed help. He needed Kel.
He smiled ruefully. Mathematics couldn’t be completely bad if it gave him an excuse to be in Kel’s company. At first, he hadn’t known what to think of the first girl to train openly as a page within living memory. Over the last year and a half, though, he had come first to respect, later to accept, and finally to like her. Recently, he’d found himself looking for excuses to spend more time with her, without drawing taunts and snide comments from some of his classmates. Well. His mathematics drew enough of those without bringing Kel into the picture.
She was good at this stuff. And she wouldn’t make him feel like a fool for not understanding it himself. Yes, he would talk to Kel about this. If he hurried, he might be able to get to her room before the rest of the study group arrived.
He found her door open when he got there, a sure sign that she wasn’t alone. He could hear Nealan of Queenscove practicing his declamation for tomorrow’s rhetoric class. He stifled a groan. Not only would he have to wait until the others left, but he’d been so caught up in his mathematics assignment that he hadn’t even selected a text yet. He’d have to go to the library after this and pray that his classmates hadn’t signed out all of the speech collections already. He sighed.
His gaze fell upon Kel. She hadn’t seen him, yet. In fact, he realized with a pang, she was totally focused on Queenscove. And the yearning expressed in those dreamy hazel eyes...
Abruptly, Faleron spun on his heel and trotted away. Kel loved... Neal? How could she? Neal was annoying. More than that, he was fickle, stuck up, argumentative—it just didn’t add up!
Somehow, though, Faleron had a feeling that this was one problem he’d be better off not approaching Kel for help solving.