 Horses Forever! l l Writer for Life l Yearbook alumnus
Natka bent over her parchment, quill in hand, as she looked hard at the reduction method she'd just copied off the board. It made her mind spin, and she could feel herself wanting to give up already, but forced herself not to.
[i]Come on, you can do this. Just take it step by step.[/b]
And so thinking, Natka put quill to parchment and began to write, working out the first date first.
April 30, 1999
4 / 30 / 1999
All right, that had been simple enough. Now that she had it all in numbers, Natka proceeded to add them up as she had been shown.
3 + 0 = 3
1 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 28 = 2 + 8 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1
Great, now I have single digit numbers everywhere, which mean oh, no, son't start thinking about that yet. Finish it first. Just add them up...
So thinking and frowing slightly, Natka completed the final step of the reduction method.
4 + 3 + 1 = 8
She'd done it! She'd actually done the first question! Well, she wasn't sure whether or not it was correct, but she'd soon find out. Wearing a satisfied grin, Natka began working on the next two questions, now much more confident in her addition skills.
October 4, 2060
10 / 4 / 2060
1 + 0 = 1
2 + 0 + 6 + 0 = 8
10 + 4 + 8 = 22 = 2 + 2 = 4
Great, she had the answer to the second question - she only hoped that the correct answer would be 4. Now, onto the last one...
December 17, 2123
12 / 17 / 2123
1 + 2 = 3
1 + 7 = 8
2 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 8
3 + 8 + 8 = 19 = 1 + 9 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1
There, she'd done them, all three. Unable to keep the grin off her face, Natka leaned back in her chair.
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