'Unity or harmony would be meaningless, however, without first having differing viewpoints to be merged.'

The woman had a point. It was like the normal handshake at the end of a fight; you wouldn't need to shake hands and come to a middle ground if there wasn't the fight. He nodded slowly at her before looking down at his work. "Thanks, Professor." Broaden his mind. Sure, he could do that. It just sounded like it required a LOT of--

........................... Oh? This was an interesting turn of events.

Very interested indeed.

"'Sup Soph!" he said, sending a wink her way. And look, out of all the people that had been picked to work with this Newell, it ended up being him. Good choice, Domingo, good choice. Numbers working more than you give them credit for? WELL. "What she means is that sometimes, an unlikely pairing that doesn't look like it can work well can actually work very," He looked over at her. "very well together. You just have to broaden your horizons. Think of the possibilities."

And he was getting distracting by a certain third year sitting next to him. Oops.

The fourth year did look up at Domingo in time to hear her say something about the Reduction Method. And then Ethan and Simon, being the smart guys that they were, had already gone ahead and explained. "I agree with Ethan and Simon," he said, his hand raised in the air, "For some numbers, you keep certain double digit numbers." Like the number eleven in the Master Numbers that was mentioned in the textbook.

What were the Master Numbers, exactly?

Dylan looked up as the professor moved on. He was about to answer her next question when other students around him began raising their hands and answering what he was already about to say. Instead of answering the same things everyone else was, he just quickly scribbled down a few more notes to help him remember all these important things in case he'd need to know later.

There had been some question asked...something about volunteers, but Sophie wasn't interested in any of that. Besides, the professor herself had told Sophie to work with Grayson, so she was totally doing what she was supposed to be doing right now. Nevermind the fact that there was something about a Reduction Method being discussed around her.

Sophie listened to Grayson's explanation, and when he was done, she raised her eyebrows and smiled at him. "Hmm," she said, and she glanced down at her parchment and copied down a few motes. "I'll have to keep that in mind then."

Sophie had had no idea what Ethan and Simon had said, but she tuned in to the class discussion just in time to add to what Grayson had just said. "...and I agree with Grayson," she said, raising her hand and then eyeing the boy next to her. It was her little secret that she was agreeing with him about the whole unlikely pairing working very well thing and not whatever Ethan and Simon had said.

-----------------------------------------------

"As Mr Mordaunt and Mr Holden described, the Reduction Method is indeed for making double-digit numbers or larger into single-digit numbers. It is fairly simple, since you just add each digit in the given number. But, there are three cases of what can happen once you do so. First! If you have made it to a single-digit number right away, you are finished and may use the page four interpretations for meanings. For example..." She waved her wand and the chalk zoomed across the board of its own accord.

Quote:

CASE ONE: 42 --> 4 + 2 = 6

"So 42 reduces down to six. Look up the meaning of six on the fourth page of your textbook." Fairly straightforward, case one was. "On to the second case. If, after adding all the digits together you have not reached a single-digit number, then you simply restart the process. Repeat it as many times as necessary until you have a single-digit number. Like so."

Quote:

CASE ONE: 42 --> 4 + 2 = 6
CASE TWO: 59 --> 5 + 9 = 14 --> 1 + 4 = 5

"Therefore 59 reduces down to five and you should look of the meaning of five in your textbook." She gazed around the room, trying to gauge the mood of the students. How many had she left behind? Although really... how much did she care? Eh, enough to at least look around.

"Which leaves us with the third possibility. At any point during your reducing, if you end up with the numbers 11, 22, or 33, you should immediately stop. These are called the Master Numbers, and their meanings are also found on page four of your textbook. We will not be discussing the Karmic Numbers you will see at the bottom of that page." Once more the chalk raced across the board.

Quote:

CASE ONE: 402 --> 4 + 0 + 2 = 6
CASE TWO: 59 --> 5 + 9 = 14 --> 1 + 4 = 5
CASE THREE: 796 --> 7 + 9 + 6 = 22

"And 796 reduces to 22, so you should use the interpretation for 22 as a Master Number from the textbook."

Right, on to the practice. "I would like you to practice the reduction method now on your parchments. I will put several numbers on the board, and you will reduce them accordingly. Feel free to work by yourself or with a partner as usual." With yet another gesture, the board cleared itself and a list of numbers appeared.

Quote:

621
83
12345
444
2519980
10101

OOC: You will have around 24 hours to complete this activity. It's okay for your character to get something wrong!

Marigold scribbled some notes down and then looked at the numbers. Wow, there were some really looooong numbers. Eeeehhhhhh. She decided she would add them all up first and reduce them, then look up the meanings. She could get the addition out of the way.

SPOILER!!: Notes

6+2+1=9
8+3=11
1+2+3+4+5=15 1+5=6
4+4+4=12 1+2=3
2+5+1+9+9+8+0=34 3+4=7
1+0+1+0+1=3

Did she add them all right?

Angel wasn't really sure what she had to do but she would give this a go anyway, because she didn't want to get into trouble for not doing the work, she wasn't sure that she could do anything with the numbers but well she decided she would at least try.



Angel was a bit confused about if the Professor wanted her to add on to this but she decided that she would as well so she continued with her work.



Angel raised her hand. "Professor have I done this right?" Angel had even decided to find the meaning, she hoped that the Professor didn't mind her doing that.

Simon beamed. Go Snakes! They had offered answers and they were both correct. He glanced over at Ethan and gave his mate a thumb's up. Then he did that with Grayson too. Their Head of House would be proud of them. Uh-huh, he was sure of it. With a couple numbers on the board, Simon set to work on figuring out the numbers.

Alright.



Simon blinked. He couldn't go any further using the reduction method as he had achieved a Master Number. What made a number a master number? He'd have to turn to page four in his textbook later on. Huh, those two seemed easy enough, thought the boy as he moved onto the next example. When he saw this number, his jaw dropped. That was a BIG number. Alright, deep breath. He took a deep breath in and then set to work.



Glancing at his answers, he noticed that the way without subdivision was much simpler. Huh. He didn't know they could do that without subdivision. Cool. His blue eyes widened to the size of saucers when he saw the next number. WAIT. 2519980? They had to use the Reduction Method on THAT?

GULP.



With all of his answers completed, Simon made sure to continue using the Reduction Method without subdivisions from now on. Sweet merlin, it was much easier without the silly subdivisions.

Hazel dipped her quill into her inkwell and scribbled down some notes as the professor explained the reduction method. She decided to give it a go.



Was that right? She certainly hoped so. She never knew Arithmancy could be so fun!

Jasmine's head popped up when the Professor began to talk about the Reduction Method. She listened to her classmates give their explanations and took notes when Profesor Domingo confirmed their answers. It all seemed pretty clear to her which was the first time that Jasmine had been able to say that in Arithmancy. She hoped that she was not missing something.

Now it was time to practice the method and Jasmine copied the numbers to be reduced onto her parchment.



Reviewing her answers, Jasmine thought that she had done everything correctly. Hopefully she had. She sat back and waited for confirmation from Professor Domingo. In the meantime, Jasmine looked at her book again. She reviewed the number meanings and then took a glance at the Master numbers.

Ohh, this actually seemed pretty easy! Sophie copied down the list of numbers they were meant to reduce.

621
83
12345
444
2519980
10101

She'd just sit right here by Grayson, but she really didn't need someone's help. This was just quick addition, yes? She thought so, at least. She glanced around, suddenly getting the feeling she was missing something. Even still, she quickly added up the first three numbers. Three at a time sounded manageable.

621
6 + 2 + 1 = 9

83
8 + 3 = 11
1 + 1 = 2

12345
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15
1 + 5 = 6

Pause.

"Are we supposed to reduce that eleven?" she asked Grayson.

Spot on?

Welp, she'd take it. Naturally she already thought she'd be right because she had eyes and could spot differences but spot on was something entirely different and totally meant she'd done something awesome. Lex looked down at her parchment again. Eight? Hmmm...Well, actually she supposed that kinda made sense.

"I see your point Professor."



It seemed they'd moved into a portion of the class Lex was more familar with. Reducing numbers was something she'd learned back in her Second Year maybe...or something like that. The years had begun to mesh for the Gryffindor. Arithmancy had just always been THERE giving her headaches.

This though, wasn't as much of a headache. Nope.



Done and with less uncertainty than everything else she'd done in this class.

The Reduction Method. Now this was something Adi understood, having read about this in his textbook. It was pretty much something simple but he never the less paid attention to the explanations and examples given by his classmates and the Professor. Now it was time to get to work!

Agatha listened to what her housemates had to say, but she didn't pay attention to the woman because she was talking way to much. And about numbers, which made it all worse. Agatha had no clue what was going on anymore, until she saw some writings on the board.

Well, she could do that. By herself. Without Nigel's help. Hmph.

Text Cut: Parchment

621 = 6 + 2 + 1 = 9
83 = 8 + 3 = 11
12345 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15
444 = 4 + 4 + 4 = 14
2519980 = 2 + 5 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 8 + 0 =
10101 = 1 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 3

Uhhhhh.....

Truth be told, she had to count some of those numbers on her fingers. And that massive one... she would definitely get that wrong, so she decided to use ask Nigel to do the rest. "Here, I did part of it. It's your turn."

Oh she was finally talking to him. Well, what was with the change of heart. Is she annoyed at some else now. Or just trying to prove that she could do this by herself without his help. He was betting on the second one because it would involve not taking to him and less chance of turning red and huffing again. Which was hilarious.

Oh it was his turn now. "Well thank you for going first and not staring" Not going to let that one go yet.



"Uh, well i guess even you need a Editor. One or two of these were wrong" Even he could do this math. Just forget he is in the classroom when proof come around.

Oh would you look at that! Three Slytherins to answer in a row. For once, he felt he was one of the smart guys in the room. Yeeeeaah! Ethan didn’t forget to acknowledge his bros though. He gave a thumbs up at Simon, and a wink—well…more of a blink to Grayson. He needs to work on the winking thing. Mhmm.

And so! Onto the activity. Well, this should be fun. Without wasting any more time, the boy scribbled down his calculation.



…aaaand done!

She was going to keep it in mind? Good. The boy liked to think he was being wise with his words, for reasons that were entirely his own. Still. It was nice. And it could end up coming in handy for this girl sooooo you're welcome in advance, Newell.

Another good thing was that she was staying. Why? Because now he had an excuse to work with her on this piece of work. Pity that they would actually have to do the work and not just hang out. Less time to talk and whatnot. And speaking of work, they were going to get started with the Reduction Method. Grayson had only picked up his quill and dipped it into his ink pot when..........

............ Soph. Who had gone off ahead already. Sweet Merlin, that was fast.

At her question, however, Grayson leaned a liiiiiittle bit closer to take a better look at her parchment. Eleven? "I say keep it as eleven. Professor mentioned something about Master Numbers and not reducing them." He shrugged and looked over at his textbook. "Uh huh. Keep it. And if I'm wrong, you have one over me." Win win situation for her, it seemed like.

Since his fellow Slytherin had done the first three, Grayson slid her work over towards him, flashing her a chaaaaaaarming smile as he did so. And then he started scribbling down the calculations for the last three numbers, all of which were long. Like that second to last one! Jeez, give a guy a break.

Text Cut: Grayphie/Whitwell(????) calculations

621
6 + 2 + 1 = 9

83
8 + 3 = 11
1 + 1 = 2

12345
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15
1 + 5 = 6

Grayson's additions:
444
4 + 4 + 4 = 12
1 + 2 = 3

2519980
2 + 5 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 8 + 0 = 34
3 + 4 = 7

10101
1 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 3

"What do you think?" Were they right? Were they not? Was she planning on hexing him for scribbling in her work? HMMMM?

Sophie raised her eyebrows. "Ohh, you know, it would be kind of fun to have one over you," she said. "But I agree with you. I think it should be eleven, too." She made the corrections on the parchment then waited while he did the last three numbers himself. See, they'd divided that up quite nicely. She looked down at the work they'd done.



"Perfect," she said. Did he expect any less? They'd been through this the first time they met. They knew they were perfect, so of course when they worked on something together, it'd be flawless. She smirked at him but also glanced down at the parchment hoping they didn't accidentally make some mistake. That would blow her theory straight out the water.

Too bad this wasn't social hour...

Oh, right of course. She had to add to it more. Lux wasn't exactly sure what to put, so she decided to leave it for the moment. The lesson was moving on anyway, and it was important for her to keep track of everything that was going on. All the new information was added to her notes for later reference.

Okay, so they had to reduce numbers through breaking them up and adding them together. That seemed simple enough. Lux began working out the problems on the board:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lux's Notes

621
6 + 2 + 1 = 9

83
8 + 3 = 11

12345
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15
1 + 5 = 6

444
4 + 4 + 4 = 12
1 + 2 = 3

2519980
2 + 5 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 8 + 0 = 34
3 + 4 = 7

10101
1 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 3

Hopefully this was correct.

Penelope copied the notes on the board that explained the reduction method, and added some of her own notes to it.



This didn't seem too hard. It was just simple addition.

Penelope looked over her work, checking for mistakes. Finding none, she looked at the meanings of the numbers and the master numbers in the textbook.

Case one. Case two. Case three. Leah wrote down notes about the cases and looked up to find super long numbers waiting to be reduced. She was a tad bit confused by all these adding but she still gave a try anyway.


Merlin. That was hard. Just a simple addition, but it was still difficult for the second year. She dipped her quill into her ink pot once more before continuing.


That was better. Hey, what was that about the master number stuff? Leah looked at her textbook and saw the part about the master numbers. She scanned her notes and immediately found. Her. Mistakes. Grr.


If she had any more mistakes the Hufflepuff could not find them. Leah read the descriptions of these numbers up and scribbled down some more notes.

Lucy started to take some notes about the Reduction method..


621
6+2+1=9
83= 11
12345=15=1+5=6
444= 12=1+2= 3
2519980=34= 3+4=7
10101=3

Done..Lucy hoped that she had done accurately the calculations..

"If you are finished, feel free to get up and move around a bit. No estudiantes shall be freezing in my classroom." Which reminded her... time to refresh the Hot Air Charms. She whipped out her wand to do just that.

Jasmine knew her concentration wasn't what it should be and here was proof. Sighing, she said "Sorry Professor". Then she picked up her quill to make the correction.



OK, now it should be right. Putting her quill down, Jasmine went back to her Arithmancy book and continued to read.

Some movement away from this desk that she could swear was stealing her warmth? Yes please. Considering the woman had said her work was good she wouldn't have to sit and do corrections. The Gryffindor hopped up out of her seat with a lazy stretch before straightening proper and tucking the chair beneath the desk.

Movement was just what she needed. While sitting she could feel herself getting all kinds of jittery again. It was becoming too frequent for her liking but nothing to be done about that.

Lex jammed her hands into her pockets and walked to the top of the classroom, idly walking by the notes on the board and absentmindedly giving them a once over. To most it would look like she was internalizing the information, even getting into deep thought but really she wasn't seeing most of it, just blank stares while she walked. Once on the other end of the board she turned to make her way back down the length of the classroom.

Did it get warmer in here? Not that she was complaining or anything.

Well she did not say wrong. So that meant that his revisions were right. Nigel liked that type of logic. Just...yeah he knew he did not finish it. He was going to leave that to Agatha. But since he was in the mood. Why Not.



This was a lot easier than last class.