Dedication

I dedicate this book to all my family

who supported me all the way

Thank you.

Copyright © 2018 Daniel Ko

All rights reserved.
ISBN-10: 1986017958
ISBN-13: 978-1986017954

2
3
Chapter 1
It was a gloomy Friday afternoon in autumn. Parker was in

math class, listening to a lecture by his math professor, Mr.

Monell. Unfortunately, Parker could not understand anything

Mr. Monell was saying. All the math symbols and equations

seemed foreign to him like a whole new language. In fact, every

student in the class was suffering from the same problem.

Teaching methods in school has changed drastically over

the past decade. Before his generation, Parker learnt that

students used to take notes and complete assignments in and

out of class. These assignments that were supposed to be

completed out of class were called “homework”.

Now, school was entirely different. Instead, the teachers

would just give lectures and students would not have to do

anything. There was no concept of “tests” anymore. This was

4
because the government decided that as more concepts needed

to be learnt, time was running out to educate the students. So,

the world government implemented an education system

where the students would only receive lectures and never

actually work on the skills. All the students needed to rely on

their memory and notes. According to the government, this

immensely reduced the time needed to have an educated

citizen. However, Parker greatly disagreed.

During elementary school, he had no problems with

understanding the topics. All subjects were laughably easy and

every student would retain all the information that they learnt

during those primary years. However, things started to change

as Parker graduated from elementary school and entered

middle school. He could no longer memorize all the countries

needed for geography class, the dates needed for history class,

and the scientific terms needed for biology class. He also failed

5
to understand the concepts of physics, chemistry, English, and

art just by listening the teacher. To solve this problem, students

in middle school started taking notes during class. This solved

the problem…but only temporarily. The same issue re-emerged

in high school, but more intensely. The notes only helped them

to memorize key terms. When it came to understanding the

various concepts, notes were no longer practical. In order for

the students to completely understand them, they needed to

practice using problems. There was just so content to learn

compared to the meagre amount of time and practice.

Parker took a look around him. Every student blankly

stared at the teacher’s hand drawing math diagrams. It was an

intoxicating atmosphere, unbearable because of the fact that

this lesson was a complete waste of time. Nobody was learning

anything from Mr. Monell and he was completely unaware of

6
this fact. Indeed, all the teachers seemed completely ignorant

that their students were not able to follow up with the classes.

There have been complaints before, but since the

students were completely alone and powerless, their voices

were not taken seriously. Most adults, even the student’s

parents always seemed to say the same thing. “You have no

work to do! You should be grateful. Back in my day, every

student had to spend at least 10 hours of their free time on

homework.” Eventually, the students realized this was a futile

act and gave up on learning. School was a waste of time and the

only reason why students kept attending school was because

they were afraid. In order to go to a known university and get a

job, the students needed the graduation certificate from the

school, even if they were learning nothing. The students were

afraid of what would happen to them if they stopped attending

school.

7
 Duke was sitting next to Parker and he was jotting down

notes furiously. Although he was not an active supporter of the

new system, he also believed that nothing could be done to

change it. So, he just decided to make the best out of it and at

least try succeeding in this new system. Although they did have

contradicting beliefs about the new system, they had been close

friends through childhood because they had similar interests.

One of the main interests they had in common was math. Parker

enjoyed the creative side of math and how there are multiple

ways to reach an answer and Duke enjoyed the logical aspect of

math.

Parker tried to focus on the equations on the board and

what Mr. Monell was saying, but he could concentrate. The

words were coming through one year and exiting out the other

as if It was a dissipating cloud, an idea that could not be held

onto. Eventually, Parker gave up to the temptation of looking

8
out the window. He could ask Duke for the notes for this class

anyways. The breezy spring wind blew on the early cherry

blossom trees as if it was the catalyst that would make the trees

bloom. The perimeter of the entire school was surrounded by

naked cherry blossom trees and Parker often wondered how

the school would look like when the cherry blossom trees

bloomed fully. It was still too early though, to see the white and

pink flowers. Parker’s dark brown eyes glinted as the sun

penetrated the windows.

Duke noticed Parker staring out the window and sighed.

His friend had a good taste in mathematics, in fact, he and

Parker were one of the few people who seemed to enjoy

mathematics in his generation. Most students preferred less

abstract subjects such as history and geography. He also

decided to let his hand take a break and glanced up at the clock.

There were ten minutes left until three o’ clock, when school

9
would finally end and the students would go to their homes

reviewing their notes to retain all the information they learned

in class successfully. Or, they would wander around the school

premises. With the new education system, the students had

way more freedom than they had before because they had not

homework to do. All they had to do was review their notes, and

even that was mandatory. It was just a recommendation for

those who wanted to make sure that they learnt something in

class.

Mr. Monell wrapped us his class by saying, “All right kids,

go home and review your notes. Next class we will talk about

geometric progression.” Sometimes, Parker wondered what

was going inside that expressionless, wrinkled thin head of Mr.

Monell. Judging from his age, he must have taught in the old

system before. Which one did he prefer, the old one or the new

one?

10
 All the students reluctantly stood up from their seats and

began to pack their bags. Most of them just went home.

However, Parker and Duke usually went to the public library. It

was a quiet place that was close to their homes, so they decided

that the library would be a good place to hang out. Parker

stuffed his bag with his pencil case and messy notes and walked

towards Duke, who was already waiting.

“Let’s go.” Said Duke amidst all the chattering of the young

high school students.

“Ok.” Parker said as he had his bag slung over his shoulder.

While they were walking, Parker and Duke mostly remained

silent. The silence was not awkward, however, because both of

them were close to each other and both of them knew that the

other one was probably thinking about something important. In

this case, Parker was thinking about what he should cook for

dinner and Duke was thinking about buying new batteries his

11
mouse. His hobby was photo shopping images and as a result he

used up a lot of his mouse batteries.

The city was full of tall skyscraper towering over everyone

on the streets as if they were tiny ants. Most of the buildings

were just used as offices for people to work in. Parker knew that

his parents who were doctors were working inside the tall

building almost at the edge of his vision that was called House

of Health. The only two buildings that stood out from the area

was the school and the library. Of course, there were houses

were people lived, but they were all located in another area.

12
Chapter 2
After the brief walk, they finally arrived at the library. The

library was a brown antiquated grand building set up like an

ancient roman temple with walls. At the top of the massive

building there was Nike, the god of victory with her wings

spread out confidently. Parker once again marveled at the sheer

size and complexity at the building. Then he quickly followed

Duke inside the library.

The door, in contrast to the entire building was very

modern. It was one of those swinging glass doors that rotate

around. Duke went in first and Parker waited for the next

rotation so that he could go inside as well. Once past the door,

the path opened up to three different routes: left, forward and

right. To the left there would be everything that was added to

the library later. The convenience store, the café and the

13
stationary store were all part of these new additions to the

library.

To the front was where the main treat lied: an array of

books aligned on a shelf and rows of tables where people can

silently read and work. The right side of the library was where

you could check out books but it almost never opened anymore.

One day, the library employees just stopped coming to the desk.

The reason to unclear to everyone but everyone accepted the

fact easily. It didn’t a lot because not many people borrowed

books from the library anyways. They just used the library as a

place to meet and work. Interestingly enough though, the main

part of the library was always silent even though there were no

employees to shush people. It was probably the dense

atmosphere of the old library that caused this.

Duke and Parker continued to stroll down the main aisle

of the library. The pathway opened up to the main section and

14
they quickly dove to the right. There was a small cozy room with

furry furniture decorated on it. A sofa was waiting for the two,

next to a lamp that dimly but adequately lit the room. The two

students quickly gave their legs a break and fell on the cushy

seats.

This place was a small hideout for them, thought it wasn’t

much of a secret. It just met their requirements for a good place

to stay, so they decided that this place would be their meeting

place. It had a sofa, a desk, two chairs and the bathroom was

right around the corner. Best of all, it was a place hidden from

the library cameras. This let the two boys secretly bring snacks

and eat in the library. If someone was caught eating in the

library, they would be instantly notified that they were banned

from the library for one week by the nearest microphone. The

door would not swing at the entrance once they recognized the

banned person’s face.

15
 “Hold on,” Duke said, “I got to go to the bathroom. Be right

back.”

Parker nodded his head and just stared at the book shelves

in front of him. They were small bookshelves that looked more

like a shelf that one would personally own than a shelf that is

owned by the public library. After the new education system

was implemented, the government wanted the students to use

all their focus on the class lectures. So, some books that were

tagged as “irrelevant to student learning” were grouped up and

taken somewhere. Parker did not know where but when he was

young, he often saw large trucks carrying a large number of

books.

Parker and Duke were in the mathematics and science

area of the library so the shelf in front of him was labeled

“Physics”. He found several books with interesting covers and

titles such as The Elegant Universe.

16
 “Huh, I wonder what this book is about?” Parker pondered

as he picked the book from his shelf.

He startled from his seat as Duke came from behind him

and asked, “What are you reading?”

“Look at this book, doesn’t it look interesting?” Parker

exclaimed.

Duke looked at the cover of the book and remarked, “Yeah,

it does but do you really

want to read that book? It looks kind of complicated.”

“Meh, I’ll manage” Parker said as he put the book inside

the shelf drawer of

the library desk. He was planning to read it later. Both then

rummaged their backpacks to search for their notes. It became

something like a habit now. Students would always carry their

notes around and when they had nothing to do, they would

always review their notes. Parker remembered his math notes

17
not being complete and so he asked Duke for his notes for math

class.

Duke willingly gave the notes to him and suddenly asked,

“What do you think about our new school?”. This was an

unusual question for Duke to ask. From his time with his friend,

Parker knew that Duke would rather talk about something

interesting that happened at school than talk about school.

Parker had to stop and think about this question for some

time. He had actually never questioned the quality of this new

high school because he mostly had no benchmark to base it

against. To answer this question, Parker thought about his

elementary and middle school. “I think the things that this high

school teach are more advanced than what were taught during

our earlier years. This sudden gap between the level of difficulty

of the topics could cause chaos and confusion among the

students, which is what is starting to happen right now.

18
 “A satisfactory answer as always.” Duke replied cheerfully.

Everything Parker had said was right. The truth was, many

students failed to adapt to the suddenly harder subjects and

started to lose focus in their classes. There were already some

of those students in Duke and Parker’s classes. Parker and Duke

both went back to reviewing their notes.

After some time, there was a rumble in Duke’s stomach.

So he rummaged inside his bag and pulled out a bag of potato

chips. Eating was strictly prohibited, but as long as you didn’t

get caught, they could not punish you. So Duke would always

bring snacks to the library and eat them. Parker simply hoped

they never got caught.

When it turned around 7 o’ clock, they both packed their

bags to leave the library. It was time to have dinner in both

families and their parents would be upset if their children

weren’t home by dinnertime.

19
Chapter 3
The sky turned dark dull gray and a cold wind cut through

the silence between the two high schoolers. The library was

behind them, still having the intimidating pose even while it was

getting smaller and smaller. The long grey strip they were

walking on looked like a tongue sticking out from the gaping

mouth of the library.

Once they turned around the corner, Parker took a swift

turn to the right. “See you later!” Parker shouted to Duke. Duke

said nothing and just waved. Then he swerved to the left of the

corner. While Parker was walking alone in the street, the lights

were flickering in and out. Parker shivered and he clutched his

jacket with more force. He glanced warily around him. He had

to be careful. His mother told him some of the recent rumors

around the neighborhood. Apparently, some children were

20
disappearing from the neighborhood and the cause was

unknown. Parker quickened his gait and started counting his

steps.

“One, two, three, four.”

“Five.” An unknown voice whispered behind him.

Struck with panic and fear, Parker quickly turned around

and saw a large person with a black coat and hat. His face had a

smug grin on it with a scar on his eye. He looked like the typical

pirate. The only thing he was missing was a cutlass on his waist

and a parrot on his shoulder. Parker assessed the situation: he

didn’t know whether the man had hostile intentions and even if

he were to run away, the man would probably able to catch him.

“Hello, who are you?”

“My name is Matt. Nothing else matters. Except for this

card. Come in private.” The large figure handed a petite card

with some notes written on it.

21
 “Parker was dumbfounded at how this situation played

out so he didn’t question the man. Since Matt did not seem to

have any negative feelings towards him, he decided to leave him

alone as he walked away. Besides, there would be no benefits

to asking Matt more questions about who he is and what he is

doing here other than to satiate his curiosity and he wasn’t

particularly interested about this sudden intruder in his life.

With a confused and uneasy mind, Parker continued to walk

home.

Parker rang the bell to his house and his mother welcomed

him warmly. The warm cozy air of the house lured him in.

“Dinner is already done, come quick before it gets cold. “Ok

Mom,” Parker told his mother as he rushed into his room. He

quickly put down his bag on the floor, washed his hands and

face, and walked to the dining room.

22
 As expected, Parker’s dad was already sitting before the

breakfast. When everybody sat down, they dug in. “Man, this

food is delicious! When did you learn to cook this?” Parker’s dad,

Ronald, asked his wife.

“I learnt it from a cookbook. You like it?”

“Yeah it’s delicious! Don’t you agree Parker?” Meanwhile,

Parker was dazing off thinking of the book they found in the

library. For some reason, it just seemed to attract him and he

couldn’t focus on the present.

“Huh,” Parker apologetically said, “uh yeah, I think the

food is great today.” He quickly finished his meal and to his

warm comfy room. Parker lay on his bed with his warm

blankets. Parker started to think about the library in general:

such a great resource being wasted on daily meetings. All the

information humanity has collected was inside that grand

building yet nobody really bothered to open a single page.

23
Parker relished this epiphany and decided that he would share

this with Duke tomorrow.

After school ended, Parker and Duke met in the library as

usual.

“What are you gonna do?” Duke asked.

“Eh, just the ordinary.” Said Parker casually. However, his

sarcastic grin told Duke that today would be a different day.

Parker stood up from the smushed couch and walked

over to the math section. On the shelf were thousands of math

books; some were textbooks, some were comic books, but

they were all related to one overarching theme: math.

“Duke, we have access to every parts of the library, well,

most parts anyways. But that isn’t the important bit. Why are

we just reviewing the notes that we studied in class right trying

aimlessly to understand a concept that we can’t even begin to

grasp when we have all the resources right in front of us?”

24
Parker spoke so quickly and excitedly that he could not even

breathe.

“Woah, hold on. Let me process this for a second.” This

thought had obviously come to him before. Duke thought a lot

about the education and how to achieve success. However, he

never actually thought of executing this idea since it felt like

cheating. Although everybody had an advantage to the public

library, none of the teachers had specifically recommended it to

the students and to use the public resource without having the

whole school use it together would make the user feel guilty.

Parker was not the first one to come up with this idea. The only

difference is that although people did think of this idea, no one

dared to share it with others. It made sense though for Parker

to share it with Duke since they were close friends who shared

most secrets.

25
 “I don’t know about this… Convince me,” Duke challenged

Parker.

A huge grin opened in the shape of a ripe banana in the

Philippines. Parker grabbed a book named, Sequences and their

Secrets. Parker bravely opened the first page.

26
Chapter 4
1. Arithmetic Sequences

1 3 5 7 9 11

Find the general formula for the sequence above.

“Look, this is an example of an arithmetic sequence,”

Parker said enthusiastically, “we learned this in class! Take out

your notes.” Duke brought out his notes from class and sure

enough, in neat handwriting, the term, Arithmetic sequences

were written at the top of the notes.”

“Well then, solve the problem,” Duke urged.

Parker began to work. In class, he learned that the general

formula for an arithmetic sequence was a+r(n-1) where a was

the first term of the sequence, r was the arithmetic difference

27
and n was the term number. First, he needed a place to write

on. Parker opened his notebook and started to organize all the

facts.

“Let’s write down what we know now,” Parker explained.

A1 = 1

A2 = 3

A3 = 5

A4 = 7

A5 = 9

A6 = 11

An = ?

“We know that a = 1 because it is the first term of the

sequence. Now we need to find out what the arithmetic

difference, r, is.”

28
 “That’s easy. It’s 2.” Duke told Parker.

“Well, how do you know that?”

“What do you mean, I just do,” Duke answered in a

confusing tone.

“Yes, it common sense that r = 2 because the next term in

the sequence is 2 more than the previous term, but how can we

mathematically write that? I think there should be a more

elegant way to write this.” Parker began to write the

fundamental property of an arithmetic sequence. An + d = An+1.

Duke nodded in agreement. This was the definition of an

arithmetic sequence. Parker then switched around the parts of

the equation to organize it like this:

d = An+1 – An

29
 “Wait, I understand now,” Duke said. If n = 1 and we

substitute A1 and A2, we get d=2. The same applies for all values

of n. So the equation for the arithmetic difference lied in the

fundamental definition of it,” Duke excitedly said. Every aspect

was falling into place and this satisfaction wanted him to want

more. Parker finished the general formula

d = A2 – A1 = A3 – A2 = An+1 – An (where n is an integer larger than

0)

=2

a=1

Thus, the general formula is 1+2(n-1)

“You interested now?” Parker questioned with a smug

face. Duke reverted back to his solemn face and nodded.

30
Unfortunately, both boys had to go back to their homes. They

decided to discuss about this later.

When Parker came in the classroom, there was a group of

students crowding on one table. This usually was an indicator of

one thing: there was a new student. Just as Parker predicted, a

new student had come to this school and it was a girl. With her

glasses and laid back hair, she looked both tall and elegant, yet

at the same time gregarious. Parker was interested, but he

decided to keep on working on the math problems.

2. Geometric Sequences

2 -4 8 -16 32 __

What is the next term of this geometric sequence?

31
 Duke, noting that Parker was writing the question down

on his notebook, came over and looked at the problem. “Oh,

this is simple, especially after we did the same thing with the

arithmetic sequences. Look,” Duke said as he grabbed a pencil

from his pencil case and began to write on Parker’s notebook.

The formula for a geometric sequence is a•rn-1 where a is

the first term, r is the geometric ratio and n was the term

number.

What we know:

a=2

An • r = An+1  r = An+1/An

“If we keep inserting numbers for n, we find that the

geometric ratio, r, is equal to -2. Now we have all the

information we need. All that’s left to do is subtract.” Parker

was impressed by Duke’s calmness and organization.

32
 General forumula: 2•(-2)n-1

“But it’s not over yet; the question asked us what the next

term was. In the sequence, the next term would be the 6th term.

So now, we have to substitute 6 for n,” Duke explained.

2•(-2)5 = 2•-32 = -64

“And voìla, we arrived at the answer!” When Duke said

this, he instantly realized that the entire class was watching him.

They couldn’t help but notice the passion and excitement Duke

expressed while solving this problem.

Just when the students around him opened their mouths

to ask questions about this concept, the math teacher, Mr.

Monell, came in the classroom. With a tinge of boredom, he

started the class what he did every day, “pay attention to the

lesson.” He then adroitly began to write mathematical formulas

33
that not many students understood. At this point, every student

was thinking unanimously.

“Parker and Duke’s ideas were far more interesting and

comprehensible than this.” One young mind in the back row was

particular amazed at the two boy’s skills.

After the lesson, everybody went their separate ways. The

students seemed to have forgotten what was once considered

an amazing feat by Parker and Duke. However, Pan who usually

stayed quiet at the back came up to Parker and Duke. Since both

of them did not talk to Pan a lot, they didn’t know what he was

going to say.

“IwasreallyinterestedinyourmathsolutionIwaswondering

whetheryouwouldbeabletoshowmemorefunideaslikethat.” Pan

rapidly blurted out in one breath.

With surprised looks, Parker and Duke just looked at their

red-face, out-of-breath classmate. Parker was the first one to

34
speak. “Sure, let’s go to the library. That’s where we hang out.”

So instead of two figures walking along the sidewalk, there were

three. However, this time, since there was a new person walking

beside them, there was an awkward emotion between the boys.

Parker decided to break the ice by saying, so Pan, what do

you want to talk about in the library?” His tone was casual but

it was obvious that he was interested at Pan’s answer.

Pan stared at the sky with a thinking look and was silent

for some time. “Actually, I’m not sure what I want to learn about.

I was just so intrigued by your explanations today morning and

I wanted to see if you guys had more of those ideas.”

Duke and Parker looked at each other and laughed. Pan

reminded them of themselves when they first started to think

mathematically in the library. Both of them felt the exact same

mixture of curiosity and courage that their friend walking next

35
to them was feeling. Pan didn’t understand why they were

laughing, so he just kept going.

Finally, they reached the giant, looming white building.

Duke took the lead while Parker was showing Pan the different

paths and places in the library. It turns out that Pan had known

of the existence of the library, but did not go there often since

he had no business there. All his friends lived closer to the local

park, so when they were bored, they would just meet up there

instead of the library.

After a series of rights and lefts, the trio arrived at their

sanctuary. They all flopped down on the sofa and took a break.

It was a lazy afternoon and nobody was feeling extra frenzy at

the moment. Whatever they were going to do, they all wanted

to do it in a calm and “chill” manner.

36
Chapter 5

Parker found the book on the shelf again and brought it

over. They opened the book to the pages after the geometric

sequence problem.

General Sequences

1. Square number series

1 4 9 16 25 _

Find the missing number

2. Triangular number series

37
1 3 6 10 15 21

Find the pattern

3. Fibonacci sequence

1 1 2 3 5 8 13

Find the pattern

The three boys looked at the three sequences closely. Pan

then said, “Well isn’t the pattern the fact that the difference

between two adjacent numbers get larger by 2 as the sequence

goes on?” Duke and Parker stared wide-eyed at Pan. They were

impressed at their new friend’s observation skills, especially

since they weren’t able to notice that pattern at first glance.

38
 “You’re right, but how can we put that into an expression?”

The boys thought about this conundrum for some time

until Duke said, “This is a bit complicated, but I got an idea.” He

then started to write down an expression for the sequence: if

we say that the nth term in the sequence is An – An+1 – An = An –

An-1 + 2. But, n has to be greater or equal to 2 because if n is 1,

then there needs to be a term called A0. But this sequence starts

with the first term, or, in other words, when n=1.

“Look,” Parker said, “all the numbers in the sequence are

square numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on.” He was right. Duke

and Pan both greeted Parker’s discovery with equal amazement

as they had with Pan before. “Now we can make a simpler

expression for the sequence: n2.” They all agreed that this

expression, although it worked equally as well as Duke’s

expression, was better since it was simpler.

39
 “We can also draw this sequence out.” Duke grabbed his

signature pen and started to draw circles on his notebook.

“If you were to express the pattern geometrically, here it

is. The next term has to be able to be drawn into a square shape,

but it’s width and height needs to be 1 unit more than the

previous square.”

“Well, the original question was to fill in the missing

number, right?” I think we should just go ahead and use n 2.

Since we’re trying to find out the 6th term, our solution should

be 62 = 36,” Parker concluded.

40
 “Well now let’s get started with the triangular number

series. Let’s do the same thing as we did for the square number

series.” Parker urged the group.

Pan began the conversation for this sequence, “Well, we

can make an expression by relating the difference between two

numbers next to each other and the difference between the

next two numbers. Here, let me try to write it down.”

If we say that the nth term in the sequence is An, then An+1

– An = An – An-1 + 1. This looks very similar to the square number

series, We can further reorganize this by isolating An+1.

An+1 – An + An = An – An-1 + 1 + An

= An+1 = 2An – An-1 + 1

Thus, 2An – An-1 + 1 = An+1

41
 “But, n has to be greater or equal to 2 because if n is 1,

then there needs to be a term called A0. This is exactly like the

square number series,” Duke noted.

Parker looked closely at the equation and suddenly had a

face of amazement, “Guys, this is the recursive formula that Mr.

Monell was talking about. When he was talking about it on the

board, I had no idea what he was talking about relating the

previous terms to get the next term, but now that I see this

equation, I think I’m getting it.”

As the other boys looked at the equation and listened to

Parker, they also understood what the recursive formula was. It

was the formula for a sequence that relates a term to its

previous terms. To use this type of formula to find out all the

terms for a sequence, you would need to know what the first

term of the sequence is. For the group’s equation, however, you

42
would need to know the first two terms since the terms A n and

An-1 were being used to find An+1.

“But how do we find the general formula using just n?”

Duke asked. The friends though about this question for a long

time. They just couldn’t find the pattern as simply as when they

did with the square number series.

Parker finally said, “How about we skip making the general

formula for a bit and just try to draw the series out first. I think

I can draw this formula using triangles.”

43
 “So they form right angle triangles,” Duke said, “Oh wait, I

have an idea. If we copy these shapes and then paste them on

the other side of the triangle, they start forming rectangles, but

not just any rectangle. These are n(n+1) rectangle. Here, let me

draw it out.” He then drew more circles onto Parker’s drawing.

Duke continued to explain, “Now we have a 1x2, 2x3, 3x4,

and a 4x5 rectangle. Since the rectangles are in order of the

sequence, the rectangles have n+1 width and n height. I think

what we can do is use this to create a general formula. Since we

had to multiply 2 to get these rectangles, we can create an

44
equation like this. 2An = n(n+1). Now we want to isolate An. So,

we can just write An = n(n+1)/2 and this equation will be

completely true. I think Mr. Monell said these types of formulas

are called explicit formulas, where the value for any term can be

directly calculated.”

“Well now we solved the first two sequences,” Parker said,

“Let’s take a break. I’m exhausted.” It was actually time for the

boys to go home. Instead of taking a short break, they decided

they would see each other later. They couldn’t meet each other

since it was Monday. As the new system was implemented, the

goal was to produce as many hard-working labourers.

Consequently, almost every day was school day. But once a

month, there would be a Monday selected by the government

for the students to rest. During this day, most students would

usually be forced by their families to go on a family trip. Of

course, the vacation was only one day, but it was amazing how

45
efficiently parents can organize 24 hours to take photos, ride

minibuses, and eat new food.

They all left the library and went their separate roads.

When Parker came home, his Mom and Dad were waiting for

him at the dining table.

“We’re planning to go to Malta,” Parker’s mom told him.

“Malta? What’s there to see in Malta?”

“Lots of things. It’s a historically significant place and going

there has always been in my bucket list!” Parker’s dad excitedly

said.

‘I guess I have to brace for impact,” Parker thought

thinking about the trip to Malta, “but at least I won’t have to

stay at school listening to boring lectures that I don’t even

understand.”

When Parker went back to him room, his computer was

on and there were millions of notifications popping up. He

46
clicked on them all and read through them; apparently, Pan and

Duke had told the other students about the sequence problems

they solved earlier and the solutions to the first two. According

to the responses, all the students were wakened to the world of

self-studying and able to re-taste the feeling of learning an idea.

Parker also actively decided to engage in the conversation and

after the long talk between him and his classmates, something big was

going to happen after the holiday tomorrow.

47
Chapter 6

It was Tuesday morning and everybody was sleepy

because they spent the night thinking about getting the

opportunity to learn independently. For a long time, the

students were unsatisfied at the current situation of not being

able to understand what was going on in class. Although their

faces expressed weariness, they were all excited. Newton’s

third law states that for every action, there is an equal and

opposite reaction. Naturally, the introduction of the new

education system will bring an opposing reaction from the

students.

The first class was English, where the students were

learning where to place their commas. However, instead of

paying attention to the teacher and the board, the students

were pretending to take notes while actually passing white

48
slips of paper around to others. They were discussing about

their satisfaction in the classroom about the new education

system. It seems as if after the math practice “demonstration”

the other day by the two boys, everybody had a nagging

feeling that said, “I want to be part of that too.”

However, Mr. Howard, the English teacher suddenly

turned around and noticed the student passing notes. “Hold on

a second!” He shouted. Mr. Howard paced briskly towards the

student and grabbed the piece of paper. Out of all the passed

notes, it said,

this new education system is complete garbage

yeah I agree

49
 Mr. Howard was a man who was very prideful of his job

and decided this was outrageous. “Who started this?” He asked

with a hint of anger.

The classroom fell silent. They had never seen Mr. Howard

angry like this before and to themselves, they were all saying,

“Yikes.”

“If the person who is responsible stands up, then the rest

of you won’t get in trouble,” Mr. Howard told the class. This was

the dirtiest tactic that he had up in his sleeve, but still no one

stood up. The teacher simply smirked. He didn’t know whether

they were innocent or stupid. It could have been both.

Finally, after a long exchange of glances, Parker and Duke

stood up.

“Sorry Mr. Howard, but there is a large number of

students who are dissatisfied with the current education

system.”

50
 “Well, why don’t you say that to the principal. Off you go.”

The two boys were expecting this and walked towards the

classroom door. While they were exiting, however, Pan stood

up from his back seat and followed them. “I also hold

responsibility; I am ready to take whatever is coming with you

guys.”

Parker and Duke looked at each other, shrugged, and left

with Pan.

51
Chapter 7
The principal’s office was a square room with not many

things in it. There was a desk and a few chairs, maybe for the

other teachers to sit around and discuss school matters with the

principal.

The principal, Ms. Sandra, asked the boys, “So, what brings

you here?”

The boys confessed and told her what happened.

“Dissatisfied with the education system, aren’t you?”

There some mockery in her tone.

The principal continued by saying, “Well boys, if you think

your method of learning is better than our practical way, try

solving this problem. This is a problem that is on a topic that was

supposed to be covered next year.”

52
 And with that, she left the three boys in the square room.

Time was ticking and the three boys did not even find out

how to solve the problem. The intimidating equation lied there

on the piece of paper.

Prove that 2n+2>n2 where n is all whole numbers

They all thought hard about the problem, but they were

all puzzled at how to solve this challenging problem. It was a

proof question, which were usually unexposed to students of

their age. But, they all knew that if they wanted to prove to the

school and even the government that self-independent learning

can actually benefit the students’ knowledge, they had to solve

this problem; it was an obligation.

“Ugh, I feel sick and burdened,” Pan groaned. This was

obvious, after all, they were representing the whole of the

53
secondary student body. If they failed, they probably would be

criticized. But more than that, they would be embarrassed of

themselves. They were so sure that of implementing homework

and classwork as a means for the students to practice and hone

their skills, but if they were to fail, they would be humiliated at

their own arrogance and pride.

“Well, I think we all feel a bit nauseous, but let’s try to

focus at the task at hand. How should we solve this?” Parker

tried to encourage the group.

“Hmm, I think we went over proofs very briefly in Mr.

Monell’s class. Hold on, I’m trying to remember my notes,” said

Duke. “Oh, now I remember, when solving proofs involving

natural numbers or whole numbers, we should use the proof

method of induction. This is where you prove one case of the

unknown variable by inputting the number and then replace it

54
with the unknown variable plus one so that it proves it for all

numbers.”

Suddenly, there was an Aha! face on Parker.

“Oh, so if we’re supposed to prove for all whole numbers,

all we have to do is prove that the statement is true when n = 1

and then further prove that n+1 is true .”

Pan elaborated on that statement. “So if n=1 and n+1 are

true, then n=2 must be true, and then n=3 must be true and so

on. You are a genius!”

“Thanks. Hehe.”

Parker took the piece of paper and started to write.

1. Substitute n for n+1

2n+1+2 > (n+1)2

“Then we can simplify, or modify, if you want to put it, this

inequality into something like this”

2n •2 + 2 > (n+1)2

55
 2n•2 + 2 > n2 + 2n + 1

Duke then interrupted. “I think it might also be a good idea

to reorganize the terms so that all the unknown variables to one

side and the numbers on the right side. Like how you would

solve an equation.”

Pan and Parker agreed.

2•2n – n2 – 2n > -1

“But now it looks messy and it looks harder to prove.

Maybe we made the wrong decision. Let’s head back to to

previous step,” Parker said. “How about we make the right side

0, like this.

2n•2 – n2 – 2n + 1 > 0

“But now we’re stuck again,” Duke fussed. “I’m so

confused at this problem.” For 10 minutes, the trio just sat there

writing down possible ways to solve this impossible proof.

56
 “Wait! I just got a great idea. Holy cow!” Pan shouted with

excitement. He quickly wrote down his ideas for the others to

see.

= 2•2n – 2•n2 + n2 – 2n + 4 – 3 > 0

= 2•2n + 2•2 – 2•n2 + n2 – 2n – 3 > 0

= 2(2n + 2 – n2) + (n+1)(n-3) > 0

“We already established the fact that

2n + 2 – n2 > 0 because we are thinking that 2n + 2 > n2 is true

from the start already. Also, (n+1)(n-3) has to be a larger than 0

if n is larger than 3.”

Parker’s eyes widened. “Oh, I understand, so if we prove

that this statement is true when n = 1, 2, and 3, we are basically

proving the entire whole number set because then n+1 will be

true which means that all the following numbers will be true.”

“Exactly,” Pan affirmed.

57
 After some thinking, Duke added. “And we can prove that

this statement is true when n= 1, 2, and 3 just by substituting

those numbers. They are only three numbers, after all.

Almost as if on cue, Ms. Sandra entered the room and

asked, “Did you finish solving the problem?”

The boys beamed at her and said, “Yes.” Then they

showed her the organized version of their proof. Ms. Sandra

looked surprised and after completely looking at the proof, she

looked at the boys again. “Well… a promise is a promise. I’ll

make sure that this school will have the education system that

you boys were talking about, the one where you get to practice

problems on your own, even if I have to make this school

completely government free.”

“Thank you,” Parker said, “I’m sure all the students will be

glad this is happening too, Ms. Sandra. “Now, can we get back

58
to English class please? That comma lesson we were having was

actually quite interesting”

Ms. Sandra approved and taking Duke and Pan, who were

still entranced and not completely sure of what they had just

done, Parker entered the hallway with his chest high up. He saw

Duke rubbing his chin while walking down the hallway and

asked, “What’s the matter? She said that the education system

will change like how we want it to. Isn’t that awesome.”

“Yeah, that’s cool and all, but I feel like maybe, just maybe,

we were the ones who were played on. I’m not sure, but I think

I may have seen a smile on Ms. Sandra’s face when she saw our

proof.”

Pan and Parker both jumped at the thought. Perhaps… Ms.

Sandra just needed an excuse for herself to go against the

government. Parker was going to run for president on student

59
council a few months later, and he was looking forward to

talking more about the education system with Ms. Sandra.

60
Chapter 8
Parker still had a nagging feeling inside him. There were

still so many unsolved mysteries. Who was the man in the dark

hood calling himself Matt? Also, it was just a gut feeling, but

Parker still felt that the new girl who had come to the school

might bring a change.

School was over and since the boys were tired after solving

the ridiculously difficult proof question, they decided that for

today, they would just go home and rest.

The group walked towards their homes and Pan was the

first one to separate. “Bye,” he said with an exhausted look. No

one could really blame him. Even after they had been released

by Ms. Sandra, everything was unclear. Parker was actually not

the only one feeling this. Both Duke and Pan secretly sensed

that this ending was too anticlimactic and if something was

61
going to happen soon, whether they liked it or not. It was just a

matter of time.

After Duke and Parker said their goodbyes and separated,

Parker rummaged his pocket for his phone. However, his hands

touched something sharper and rougher.

Curiously, Parker took the object out and instantly as soon

as he saw the object, millions of thoughts swarmed into his head.

It was the piece of paper that Matt had given him. Parker face

palmed himself for being an idiot and regretted not taking a look

at this message. After all, the this notecard must have some

important information if Matt went out of his way to dress in

that fashion and approach Parker. He took a look at the

notecard.

September 9.

School backyard at 3pm. Meet private.

62
 “September 9, huh.” Parker furiously thought of today’s

date. “Today is the 8th,” Parker realized. As he kept walking

down the asphalt road, he thought of why Matt might be

interested in seeing him, especially in school grounds. Also,

Parker didn’t understand what Matt meant by the school

backyard.

“Hmm, maybe he is talking about that little corner behind

the school.” After thinking about this place, Parker shuddered.

First, the place was creepy. Second, he had no idea what Matt

might do to him there. If he was kidnapped, no one would notice

his disappearance unless he told someone. However, he was

curious where this was heading and his adventurous soul took

control. “It will be ok as long as I ask Duke to watch my back for

me. If I am ever in trouble, Duke can call the police or

something.” For now, Parker decided to forget about the matter

and just walk home.

63
 Once he arrived, home, he expected a “Welcome home,

honey,” from his mother. However, the house was silent and

dark. Parker assumed his parents were working late and

decided to cook dinner for himself. These occasions were rare,

but since Parker knew how to cook simple dishes, it wasn’t a big

problem.

After eating his delicious chili con carné, Parker went back

up to his room and lied on his bed. He was extremely bored and

he didn’t want to review his notes. Parker lazily stood up from

his bed and sat down on his desk.

“The proof that the principal gave us forced us to factorize

well. If we couldn’t see how the numbers factorized, I don’t

know if we could’ve solved that problem,” he muttered. He

opened his notebook and started writing.

Factorization practice

64
Common equations:

1) a2 + 2ab + b2= (a+b)2

2) a2 - 2ab + b2= (a+b)2

3) a2 – b2 = (a - b)(a + b)

4) a3 + b3 = (a + b)(a2 – ab +b2)

5) a3 – b3 = (a - b)(a2 + ab +b2)

These were the simplest equations that Parker knew, but

he wasn’t satisfied. So, he decided to make some practice

problems. Although the government encouraged reviewing

notes instead of practicing problems, Parker thought it would

be fine since Ms. Sanders promised the system would change.

1. X6 – y6 = (x3)2 – (y3)2

= (x3+y3)(x3-y3)

=(x+y)(x2 – xy + y2)(x-y)(x2 + xy +y2)

65
 He thought to himself, “This question was pretty hard I

think. You had to combine the basic rules number 3, 4, and 5 in

order to solve this problem. I have to get better at memorizing

these common equations if I want to solve future questions like

these.” Parker picked up his pencil again and started writing.

2. X4 – 23x2 + 1

“This is a tough one, I don’t even know where to start. Hm,

the one at the end might give us a clue. It tells us that the

factorized form must be something like (A+1)(A+1) or

(A-1)(A-1).” After some more thinking, he suddenly had a

revelation. “Aha!”

x4 +2x2 +1 – 25x2

This whole statement still remains true since (2-25)x2 is

23x2 in the original equation.

66
x4 +2x2 +1 – 25x2

= (x2+1)2 – 25x2

= (x2 -5x + 1)(x2 +5x +1)

“This actually turned out to be quite simple. All I had to be

cautious of was the fact that 23 can be modified into 25 – 2.

Although the equation becomes more complicated for a brief

moment, if we modify it that way, the equation becomes way

easier to solve!” Parker felt accomplished now. Maybe he might

share his findings about factorization with his friends tomorrow.

67
Chapter 9
Wednesday had fallen upon Parker and he was both

excited and scared. Instead of focusing in class, he just kept

glancing at the clock seeing when the clock would tick 3pm.

Duke, sitting right next to Parker, noticed this strange behaviour

and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Parker turned his head towards Duke and sighed. It was

time to tell him and he did not quite know how to explain this

whole situation to Duke. “It’s a long story, but to keep it short,

I’m basically meeting a stranger who wants to meet me in the

school backyard. Don’t ask questions. Just come with me after

school.”

Looking at the expression on Parker’s face, Duke knew

that he was not joking around. He simply nodded and

occasionally glanced at the ticking clock. He, of course, was also

68
curious at where this was heading. Maybe more than Parker,

even, since he knew less about the whole situation.

The last class finally ended and the end of school bang

rang across the hallways. Parker and Duke quickly packed up

and headed towards the backyard. Parker had decided not to

tell Pan since he did not want too many people involved in this

business. He trusted Pan, but for now, Parker made the decision

that this secret should be known by only Duke and himself.

After exiting the front gates, Parker had a nervous look on

his face. So, as a friend, Duke asked, “You okay bud?”

“Yeah, yeah. Can you just stay behind me? But don’t be

seen; he told me to come privately.”

“Sure.” Duke replied casually, trying to calm Parker down.

Parker walked to the dark zone and it the air turned cold.

Sure enough, the large man was standing in the shadows. Parker

approached him and asked, “What do you want from me?” He

69
could definitely tell that this man was Matt who he had met

earlier by his size and position.

Matt showed a grin and took his heavy coat off. Parker

couldn’t believe who was under it. It was Mr. Monell. Mr.

Monell had used several pads in order to make himself seem

larger. However, Mr. Monell seemed different from what he

usually looks like in class. He was grinning widely as if proud of

his disguise and in his eyes there was a special glint. It was a glint

that Parker recognized. The glint of excitement for adventure.

“I noticed that you were interested in math. In fact, I heard

about your confrontation with Ms. Sanders. Well done. Now,

can you keep a secret?” Parker nodded firmly. “Well, some of

the teachers, most actually, have been quite dissatisfied at the

new education system as well, believe it or not. We’ve just been

abiding it so that we don’t lose our jobs. But of course we hate

this system. My reason why I wanted to become a teacher was

70
to teacher students in a fun way and get that “Aha!” moment

from them. But then, I realized that this new education system

is, frankly, quite terrible at making the students learn. So, the

teachers have been planning a secret class in order to teach you

guys in a better way. This was actually mostly planned my Ms.

Sanders and I, and the other teachers only know that we are

trying to make this new system.

“Wait, hold on. So why are you coming up to me and

telling me all this?”

“Because in order to get approval from the government,

we needed you kids to do one more thing. You kids need to

prove yourselves by solving another problem. This time, the

government wants to check whether you kids can actually learn

independently. So make sure that you guys can solve this

problem. Oh, also there will be on more person who will be

solving this problem along with the three of you.”

71
 Parker interrupted. “Let me guess, is it the new girl that

came in our class?”

“How did you know?” Mr. Monell asked with a surprised

face.

“Just a lucky guess,” Parker replied.

“Ok, so I know that this is tough but you guys will have

solve the problem tomorrow during lunch period. Don’t worry,

if it takes too much time, we can always postpone it to another

day. Well, now it’s time for me to go. By the way, try to keep

this a secret since if this gets known the other students, you

guys will get a lot of pressure. That’s the whole reason why

we’re meeting so covertly. So that other students can overhear

us and put pressure on you guys or blame you guys if you fail.

I’m sure you guys can solve any problem if you just work as a

team. Bye.”

72
 “Have a nice day,” Parker said. He realized that it was kind

of awkward to speak with Mr. Monell since he usually never

conversed with him.

Parker met up with Duke at the front gates of the school.

Duke asked, “What happened?”

Parker looked at Duke and slowly smiled, “we’re going to

solve a problem tomorrow lunch time and whether we are able

to solve this problem or not will choose the fate of our school…”

“Damn, that’s pretty heavy.”

“Also, this girl is going to be solving the problem with us,

so get ready to collaborate.”

“Aight”

For the walk home, they just remained silent. Each of them

were thinking about tomorrow. Although a lot of things

happened over the past few weeks, nothing would compare to

what was going to happen tomorrow.

73
 “Well, see you tomorrow. Have a good night’s sleep

before you come to school,” Parker said as he waved goodbye.

“You too. I’ll make sure Pan knows about what is going to

happen tomorrow. I’ll spam him emails about the situation.”

“Ok.”

74
Chapter 10
The morning classes were over. It was time for the final

test; the final problem; the final challenge. The three boys and

the girl stared at the blank piece of paper, letting their minds

wander into the depths of mathematics.

When n is a whole number, find the value of

[√𝑛2 + 𝑛 + 1]

The students clutched their head at this problem. Parker

eyed the girl to see if she made any progress. During the short

time they had before receiving this equation, they learned that

the girl’s name was Julie and that she was known for liking math.

In fact, that was why she was chosen for this task as one of our

75
school’s representatives; she had participated in actual math

competitions whereas the boys have not.

Unshyingly, the girl spoke first. “Well, let’s first organize

the things we know. If there is a number A between two whole

numbers B and B+1, we know that [A] becomes B. That is how

the symbol [] works.”

Parker continued on, “So, maybe that’s how we should

approach the question. We identify two whole numbers that

have [√𝑛2 + 𝑛 + 1] between them and then we choose the

smaller whole number.”

Pan questioned right after, “But how are we going to

determine a strict value we are only given the term n? I mean,

we don’t know anything about n other than the fact that it is a

whole number.”

76
 “You’re right, it is odd that they only gave the set condition

of n, they didn’t give us any specific values. This probably means

that we need to show our answers in terms of n,” Duke said.

“I think we’re thinking too much. Maybe we should try a

simpler approach. How about we try to use the root symbol?”

Parker added.

Suddenly, Julie gasped. “Oh, I just got an idea. They

provided us with the fact that n is a whole number, right? So

𝑛2 + 2𝑛 + 1 must be larger than 𝑛2 + 𝑛 + 1 . But the

interesting part here is 𝑛2 + 2𝑛 + 1 is actually (𝑛 + 1)2 .”

Parker agreed once he realized what she was getting to,

“So you are trying to put (𝑛 + 1)2 to one side of the equation

and 𝑛2 to the other side of the equation!” He quickly grabbed

his pen and started to race through the pages.

77
 √𝑛2 < [√𝑛2 + 𝑛 + 1] < √(𝑛 + 1)2

At this point, Pan and Duke caught on. This inequality

made perfect sense because of the fact that n was a whole

number. So, the value of [√𝑛2 + 𝑛 + 1] was √𝑛2 , which is

equal to n.

Parker organized the solution in a neat manner and

presented it to Mr. Monell who was waiting outside the hallway.

By the expression on his face, Parker guessed that Mr. Monell

was impressed at how elegantly the groups were able to solve

this problem. “I hope you had a lot of fun solving this problem.”

Mr. Monell gave Parker an uneasy smile.

“Why?” Parker hesitantly asked. He was thinking ‘Were

they going to have to solve a lot more of these problems to get

a change in the system?’

78
 “Oh, that’s simple,” Mr. Monell replied, “it’s because you

will be solving more questions like this in my class!

Congratulations! Our school is going to change our education

system so that it incorporates practice and independent

learning.”

The group rejoiced at their success and this time, Parker

no longer had the nagging doubt that the puzzle was incomplete.

Julie asked, “Hey, Parker, do you think you could guide me

around the school campus? I’m still not completely sure of this

place.”

“Sure,” Parker smiled warmly.

79
80