Luin thought about the questions. Normally when she thought of numbers she didnt use objects, she had a way of thinking of numbers that she didn't need things to manipulate them normally. She raised her hands, "I'm not sure if this works, but when I am dealing with numbers I imagine each number as a certain color or something and when they are used in different ways, they become some other color. It's kinda odd to explain."

Remembering numbers? Kurumi often used her fingers for that. The best tip she had received was for remembering her times tables. Then Kurumi was reminded of a student she had met in another class who tapped to numbers. "When I was growing up, I learned how to remember numbers through song," Kurumi blushed remembering her father playing silly number games with her to help her learn to count in English.

A bit different? Em frowned at that. It seemed like all the lessons this term were a little bit different. All with a common thread. This was very curious. Focusing back on the lesson, she heard Hadley's question. She raised her hand before saying, "You mean like using your fingers to multiply by nine? Thats what I do."

Caroline listened to Professor Hadley as she spoke. Helping with numbers, counting. She thought for a while. She blue eye staring at the desk.She played with her long blonde hair as she thought, Counting, numbers. Oh! She rasied her hand. "you can use tallys to add or subtact numbers. or use number grams.

Counting aides?.....

Huh....

"Well Professor, back in pre-school I remember seeing this huge wire frame thing with balls running across the wires... you can push them left and right. My teachers back then said its based on a thing called... uh... Abs...Abba... sumthin." he shrugged.

To him they were just balls-on-wires.

"how about the the crisscross method Professor, It's easy to multiply large numbers using it as short cut method" Raven said

Oh. Yes. Ellie could definitely answer this one. She could count, she could.

She sat straighter, if possible, in her chair and was juuuuuuust about to put her hand up until....

Her answer was taken. Twice.

Boo. She GLARED at the kids who took it.

So, she slacked her muscles a bit. Next question was SO hers, though.

GLARE.

Lexi nodded her head at Professor Hadley and looked slightly abashed about it all as well. She then directed her attention to others in the room that spoke when she asked her first question. Fingers... other random things. Then Salander's answer caught her attention. "An abbacus, I think it's called," she said with a raised hand. Then added, "My mum and dad used to have these flash card thingies that I used to learn my numbers."

Hmmm a counting aid... "What about a calculator professor? At least to double check an answer that you get if you're adding or multiplying an equation," Sakura suggested. Muggles certainly found them useful and with their technology today basically everything was a calculator so they had the added bonus of being handy, and the only way the answer would end up wrong is if you entered the numbers wrong.

Counting aids... Lexie sat up a little straighter in her chair. Figures and numbers had always been and intriguing subject to her and she was darn good at handling them. She raised her hand.

"Professor, I remember what I used to do when I was young: when Mom and Dad brought me out on Muggle streets, I used to add up the numbers on the vehicle plaids... or plates, what are they called again? Never mind that, I did it for a long time before proceeding to randomly assigning an operational sign to the numbers and solving it in my head. If that makes sense to you at all, Professor..." she ended in a small voice.

"When I'm working with fractions and decimals I try to think of the numbers as money and always ask myself which amount I would want more to find the greater number," Jamie said her hand in the air.

Quill making slight scratching sounds as she moved her hand across her parchment, Ivory nodded along with the people answering around her. Dark dots bulleting the different examples on her notes, a habit that helped make her notes just the tiniest bit more organized. Well, she thought so anyway.

Looking up again, Ivory caught her best friend's eye a little away and smiled. Having the same classes as your best friend was awesome. Plain and simple.

Her attention back to the Professor, she raised her hand. " Maybe grouping? When I was younger, I found that counting by either 5's, or 10's to be really helpful." It also made multiplying and dividing all that much easier. At least in multiples of 5.

Arithmancy? Anything to do with numbers was hard for Emily.
She sat queitly as the teacher spoke. 'Counting aides?' What?
Oh numbers! The thing she hated most!
"I used to use fingers and toes when I was younger..."
No, she totally didn't use that anymore!
"Now a calculator is the best way to do hard sums."

Jaina felt like she was back home. She understood so much of math, but always got the wrong answers. "Um, I know you can use a number line. They can be very handy." She hoped she didn't sound to elementary.

Satine smiled at the professor and then raised her hand, "Well, my grandma once showed me this crazy Muggle contraption called a slide rule.."

"I see," Jake nodded. He had no idea how those loops could ever be considered letters, but therrrrre they were, so Jake went ahead and took his seat, starting to get his things ready.

'Different' lessons? Well, Jake wasn't ready to jump for joy but he'd hear everyone out.

Raising his hand as he finally located a quill deeeeep in the bottom of his bag, Jake put for his own idea. "Well, there's this thing, like a mechanism. You hold it in your hand and pull the trigger or lever or whatever it is, and the number on the display rolls up. It's used for when you're counting either a lot of things or things other a period of time, mainly over the long period of time. They're really cool, too."

...

Hm.

"As for help with numbers and sums, then a calculator. A scientific one if you wanna get really into it. You can make them say words from upside down numbers too... but that's irrelevant."

Still... it was amusing, back in the day.

Mhhh waaays to help you with numbers? Think Fee think. Resting her head on her hand the blonbde let the thoughts flood her mind.Muggles had that strange thing on which you typed the numbers and then it counted them together. Ohh yeeah right."Muggles use calculators to count numbers.",the Slytherin said raising her hand.

Mmmhmm. So, Treyen was truly focused on the chalkboard, so focused that he didn't even heard Hadley speak up. She was still talking about sticks? Or...an abacus? Was he even supposed to bring one?

Arya didn't. So, he was all good.

But since people were giving answers, he assumed Hadley had asked a question...? Sigh. Perhaps the focus should remain on Hadley and NOT the chalkboard or his quill. Treyen was sincerely hoping that whatever he'd missed wasn't truly important.

Simon listened to the question and tried to think of an answer but one by one they seemed to be being taken by others who managed to answer before him. And at the repeated mention of calculators and their connection to muggled, he couldn't help wondering if that would be where the focus of the class would lie seeing as all the other classes that started this term had somehow been connected to muggles.

"Well counting boards is one. They were similar and perhaps earlier then the abacus," he finally supplied to at least contribute.

Oh GAH!

They were going to be working on numbers in class.. again! It's all they did in Arithmancy and even when they were lost and stuck in a maze with DEAD bodies all around, they still had to deal with them things. Just once, Destiny would like to attend an Arithmancy class that did not deal with numbers.

At least she knew some ways to count. Her fingers and toes being the things she uses the most, but that was already said by her BFF Evelyn.

After giving her friend a quick thumbs up because they were obviously thinking alike, she raised her hand HIGH and waved it all around. Like her answer was intelligent or something. "Sheep can help you count." And then fall asleep. Which was what Destiny felt like doing.

"Yes an abacus is a very useful counting aid, indeed," Josephina commented at the first answer spoken. Calculator not so much.

Confusion or not, Josephina hardly noticed, because Evelyn, like usual, seemed to have her head in the right place. "Fingers are quite useful as well. As are your toes if you should run out of fingers..." Hehe. She should have a class where they have to write with their toes.

Not quite a counting technique so much as a general good rule of thumb. "Yes, don't psyche yourself out. Breaking things up in smaller pieces is very helpful." She smiled at the gryffindor and nodded encouragingly.

Well DUH! It would be bad if he used something else to count other than numbers. "Good for you. I use numbers to count as well," she said, grinning at him. "But I have to ask, do you use charms or anything to make the sticks curve or do you just give the numbers more cornered edges?"

"Visual aids are quite helpful in counting, yes." She said to the girl.

"Ooo! Tally marks! Yes, very good!" Something that she used often, in particular for lessons when tallying house points. Hehe.

"Stacking is another good method." Josephina commented to the Gryffindor Prefect.

Colors; well that was different. "Hmm, interesting. But I do wonder if there is some sort of correlation in the colors matched to each number as in the color vibes each number is associated with..." Because that would be cool if she did that!

Rhyming games! Figures that she would mention an art form like music to help her study. "Nothing wrong or shameful with that; art, as you very well know, is very useful in aiding the learning process." In its many varying forms as well.

"Yes, fingers are quite useful." Except that she never really understand how kids used them to multiply. Some people got that, but for her, it was always easy to write the problem down on paper or just do it in her head.

Josephina nodded as another Slytherin girl also mentioned tallies. Quite useful.


"Abacus. Yes, Salander. Very helpful in counting." Heh, Slytherins needed to pay attention more to what their peers were saying ...

"That is useful, yes, for multiplication." Not so much Arithmancy because that more just involved addition and subtraction. But still, useful counting method nonetheless.

"Yes, an abacus, Miss Denver," she said, as the girl continued on with something new. Smart blond; it was a wonder she never shown her face in any prior Arithmancy lessons. "Flash cards are extremely helpful; not just for counting, but also just as general study tools."

"Sure. Calculators are great. For the lazy..." Josephina replied back and shook her head. "Why use a calculator when you've got a brain?" And magical abilities. Yup, calculators and technology in general was SO overrated.

"License plates? Interesting..." Josephina said, as she listened to the girl talk about her adventures in adding numbers on the plates. "I wonder if there's any correlation in the numbers on the plates to the drivers of the vehicles. That would make for an interesting study." Mmm.. perhaps next time she was in Italy she would investigate.

"Money is a good thing to think of when dealing with numbers," Josephina grinned at the girl. Yup, because without money, you couldn't do much.

"As is grouping... A very effective phenomenon." She said in response to the Ravenclaw Prefect's answer.

"I'd rather have you use fingers and toes than a calculator," she said; because there was totally nothing wrong or immature about using your fingers! "At least then I know you're using your brain and not some piece of machinery to do your work for you." Hehe.

"Quite handy indeed," Josephina agreed.

"Crazy contraption? Oh those are so much fun though! I do hope your grandmother also showed you how to use it!"

"The mechanism does sound cool, Jake!" But what was this about making words from upside down numbers on calculators? PFFT, so that was these kids kept suggesting that piece of machinery! Totally irrelevant words too, no doubt.

"Calculators, I've said, are for the lazy. I'd much rather see you using a device like an abacus or blocks or something than that piece of machinery you all call a calculator."

That goes for YOU too, missy with the calculator!

MMHM. You heard me before.


Counting boards; now that was a device totally worth one's time. "Yes, very helpful indeed," Josephina agreed and nodded at the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

More helpful than the cursed calculator kids these days seem to thrive on.


Uh what?! Did Destiny just suggest counting sheep? "Yes counting sheep... very useful for getting children to sleep as well." Was she suggesting that her class was boring? Well just you wait, Destiny!

No, there was no mazes Mister Jacob Walking Disaster, but that didn't mean anything.


Once it seemed like all the kids had spoken their suggested, Josephina guessed it was probably about time to tread on forward with the lesson or they'd never finish on time. "Yes, you all have provided very useful techniques for counting... Whether it be just simply using your fingers or a slide board, tally marks, counting boards, abaci, or whatever." Anything EXCEPT that blasted calculator. Mmhm. We're watching you making sure you don't try and use it. "For those who have taken Arithmancy before, you're aware that it is study of meanings of numbers as method to divine their influence on human life. In some regards, it is in theory, the divination of numbers.

So today, we'll be focusing on something called Chien Tung, or Chinese Fortune Sticks. Even playing a modified version of it. Does anyone know what Chien Tung is and would care to give a brief explanation about it?"

Selina began to take down notes, but she had no clue what she had referred to. So she sat back with her parchment and awaited the explanation.

"Is it the way the pick-up sticks lay mean certain things? Like 5 blue mean that you'll have a bad day?" Jaina queried.

Chien tung... what in the world was chien tung. Some kind of martial art, or some kind of really spicy food that burns coming out the other end. Not that Jacob had to worry about that anymore, his butt was already burned off. But being Ravenclaw he automatically, and unconsciously raised his hand... might as well say something. "Uhm... its... uh.... Asian...?" well obviously.

Arya knew nothing about Arithmancy besides the fact that it was basically the study of numbers and their meanings, or something like that. Whatever looks and glances she received were returned with just if not more confusion. She was as lost as her friends. Except Ivory. That girl seemed to know enough about the subject to help her study. She'd totally missed that Treyen was intentionally not paying to professor any attention since she was taking notes for the homework they would receive.