Sequel: A New Angle ›
Brain Teasers
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“This isn’t making any sense to me!” I yelled in frustration, just about ready to tear my hair out.
“It’s really not that hard.” A certain black haired prodigy retorted as he lay on his bed skimming a magazine about the latest robotics technology.
I was currently bent over his desk working on my physics assignment. To be completely honest, I thought it was the worst subject in history. I mean when do you ever have to calculate orbital speed anyway? It’s not like you needed that knowledge to get far in life.
“That’s easy for you to say.” I shot back, “You graduated high school when you were 13, genius. Unlike you, the rest of the 14 year olds are still in grade 9.”
Hiro laughed, “Hey, can’t blame me for being smart.”
“No, but I can hate you.” I growled out.
At this the boy genius looked up with a look of such shock and hurt that I was forced to make amends.
“Sorry, bad joke.” I said quietly.
Yeah, it probably wasn’t the best thing to joke about considering how he was constantly bullied in high school for being so intelligent. Phrases like “nerd” and “show off” probably still haunted the young Hamada in his sleep.
Plopping his magazine down on his bed, the mix breed came pattering over to my desk. He knew that for me to say something like that, I must’ve been really riled up.
“What are you working on anyway?” the boy asked, folding his arms and resting them on the back of my chair.
“It’s this brain teaser assignment that my teacher wanted us to do.” I responded, “He’s going to mark it and it’ll be worth like 5% of my final grade.”
Hiro peered over my shoulder, silently reading the problem.
Out of the corner of my eye, a colourful object caught my attention. I reached out to grab the Rubik’s cube and started tinkering with it.
“He’s not even being fair.” I complained while I twisted a face of the toy, “This is like grade 12 stuff. He said he’s testing our ability to think ‘above and beyond’ and that this is what differentiates an A from and A+. I don’t think he actually understands what critical thinking is. I mean going ‘above and beyond’ is one thing. But, skipping 3 whole grades? That’s entirely different. That’s not even part of our curriculum. Heck, that shouldn’t even be graded!”
“Uh huh.” Hiro responded vaguely, brows furrowed in concentration as he mentally tried to work out the problem.
“Why don’t you write it down? It might be easier.” I said while gesturing to my blank page.
“Sure.” The boy replied half-heartedly. I could practically see the cogs turning in that big brain of his.
I played absently with the cube, growing ever more frustrated as the colourful patterns seemed to get even more jumbled up.
I growled in aggravation then finally slammed the Rubik’s cube on to the desk.
“I am so done with this shit!” I exclaimed. First it was the physics problem and now the Rubik’s cube. It seemed as if everyone – or more specifically everything – was out to get me today.
Amused by my outburst Hiro smirked and picked up the combination game that I was struggling so much with.
“According to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the sum of all forces is equal to the mass times acceleration.” The prodigy explained as he absently toyed with the cube, “Given this, you can substitute the net force with the equation for universal gravity which is ‘G’ times ‘m1’ times ‘m2’ over ‘r’ squared. Since the centripetal force is a gravitational force, you can set the two equations equal to each other. Therefore ‘G’ times ‘m1’ times ‘m2’ over ‘r’ squared is equal to ‘m1’ times ‘v’ squared over ‘r’. Now, by using simple algebra, we can rearrange and simplify the formula to solve for ‘v’. All that’s left now is to plug in the numbers. So, the velocity of the satellite is equal to the gravitational constant times the mass of the sun divided by the orbital radius all square rooted. Therefore the orbital speed is about 1.37 times 10 to the power of 5 metres per second.”
Tossing me the cube, the genius grinned widely at me and said, “I’m hungry. I’m going to go get a cookie. I’ll grab you one.”
Then, making his way to the stairs, he bounded down towards the kitchen.
I stared, gaping at the completed Rubik’s cube and tried to process everything he just said.
Putting the toy down, I spun my chair around and stiffly got out of it. I slowly made my way to his bed and flopped down on to the soft mattress, eyes fixed blankly on the sloping ceiling.
A million thoughts raced across my mind, but I could only make out one coherently.
´How the hell does he do that?’
Suddenly, footsteps were heard ascending the staircase and shortly afterwards, Tadashi’s figure emerged.
He took one look at me, then stalked towards Hiro’s desk and scrawled something onto the blank piece of paper that was originally intended for my physics assignment.
Folding the page in quarters, he walked up to me and handed me the note.
Seeing my dazed expression, he smirked and said, “You should try kissing him. It’ll make you smarter.”
*~*~*~*
Dear Shizu,
Consider the Following:
Kissing = Increased heart rate
Increased heart rate = Increased oxygen flow to the brain
Increased oxygen flow to the brain = More brain power
More brain power = More intelligence
CONCLUSION: Kissing = More intelligence
Love,
Tadashi
P.S. Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. ;)
“It’s really not that hard.” A certain black haired prodigy retorted as he lay on his bed skimming a magazine about the latest robotics technology.
I was currently bent over his desk working on my physics assignment. To be completely honest, I thought it was the worst subject in history. I mean when do you ever have to calculate orbital speed anyway? It’s not like you needed that knowledge to get far in life.
“That’s easy for you to say.” I shot back, “You graduated high school when you were 13, genius. Unlike you, the rest of the 14 year olds are still in grade 9.”
Hiro laughed, “Hey, can’t blame me for being smart.”
“No, but I can hate you.” I growled out.
At this the boy genius looked up with a look of such shock and hurt that I was forced to make amends.
“Sorry, bad joke.” I said quietly.
Yeah, it probably wasn’t the best thing to joke about considering how he was constantly bullied in high school for being so intelligent. Phrases like “nerd” and “show off” probably still haunted the young Hamada in his sleep.
Plopping his magazine down on his bed, the mix breed came pattering over to my desk. He knew that for me to say something like that, I must’ve been really riled up.
“What are you working on anyway?” the boy asked, folding his arms and resting them on the back of my chair.
“It’s this brain teaser assignment that my teacher wanted us to do.” I responded, “He’s going to mark it and it’ll be worth like 5% of my final grade.”
Hiro peered over my shoulder, silently reading the problem.
Out of the corner of my eye, a colourful object caught my attention. I reached out to grab the Rubik’s cube and started tinkering with it.
“He’s not even being fair.” I complained while I twisted a face of the toy, “This is like grade 12 stuff. He said he’s testing our ability to think ‘above and beyond’ and that this is what differentiates an A from and A+. I don’t think he actually understands what critical thinking is. I mean going ‘above and beyond’ is one thing. But, skipping 3 whole grades? That’s entirely different. That’s not even part of our curriculum. Heck, that shouldn’t even be graded!”
“Uh huh.” Hiro responded vaguely, brows furrowed in concentration as he mentally tried to work out the problem.
“Why don’t you write it down? It might be easier.” I said while gesturing to my blank page.
“Sure.” The boy replied half-heartedly. I could practically see the cogs turning in that big brain of his.
I played absently with the cube, growing ever more frustrated as the colourful patterns seemed to get even more jumbled up.
I growled in aggravation then finally slammed the Rubik’s cube on to the desk.
“I am so done with this shit!” I exclaimed. First it was the physics problem and now the Rubik’s cube. It seemed as if everyone – or more specifically everything – was out to get me today.
Amused by my outburst Hiro smirked and picked up the combination game that I was struggling so much with.
“According to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the sum of all forces is equal to the mass times acceleration.” The prodigy explained as he absently toyed with the cube, “Given this, you can substitute the net force with the equation for universal gravity which is ‘G’ times ‘m1’ times ‘m2’ over ‘r’ squared. Since the centripetal force is a gravitational force, you can set the two equations equal to each other. Therefore ‘G’ times ‘m1’ times ‘m2’ over ‘r’ squared is equal to ‘m1’ times ‘v’ squared over ‘r’. Now, by using simple algebra, we can rearrange and simplify the formula to solve for ‘v’. All that’s left now is to plug in the numbers. So, the velocity of the satellite is equal to the gravitational constant times the mass of the sun divided by the orbital radius all square rooted. Therefore the orbital speed is about 1.37 times 10 to the power of 5 metres per second.”
Tossing me the cube, the genius grinned widely at me and said, “I’m hungry. I’m going to go get a cookie. I’ll grab you one.”
Then, making his way to the stairs, he bounded down towards the kitchen.
I stared, gaping at the completed Rubik’s cube and tried to process everything he just said.
Putting the toy down, I spun my chair around and stiffly got out of it. I slowly made my way to his bed and flopped down on to the soft mattress, eyes fixed blankly on the sloping ceiling.
A million thoughts raced across my mind, but I could only make out one coherently.
´How the hell does he do that?’
Suddenly, footsteps were heard ascending the staircase and shortly afterwards, Tadashi’s figure emerged.
He took one look at me, then stalked towards Hiro’s desk and scrawled something onto the blank piece of paper that was originally intended for my physics assignment.
Folding the page in quarters, he walked up to me and handed me the note.
Seeing my dazed expression, he smirked and said, “You should try kissing him. It’ll make you smarter.”
*~*~*~*
Dear Shizu,
Consider the Following:
Kissing = Increased heart rate
Increased heart rate = Increased oxygen flow to the brain
Increased oxygen flow to the brain = More brain power
More brain power = More intelligence
CONCLUSION: Kissing = More intelligence
Love,
Tadashi
P.S. Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. ;)