Passage to Avalon (The Epic Adventures of the Techno Wizard Book 1) by Mike Thayer

Author:Mike Thayer [Thayer, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780999511008
Publisher: Hooligan Press
Published: 2018-04-02T07:00:00+00:00

24

Arithmetic

“Are you ready?” Borinder asked, steepling his fingers.

“I was born ready, Mr. Besselink.” Sam loved to improvise, but pulling off an entire prank on the fly was pushing it. He tried not to think of the stakes and just focus on what he needed to do. He pretended to jostle his ear and slyly inserted his earpiece.

Borinder smiled. “We start with multiplication of two-digit numbers and move on to three-digit numbers. If you last that long, we can work backwards with division. First one to give an incorrect answer loses.”

“Now, I must warn you,” Sam said, holding up a finger. “My arithmetic powers are based in techno-magic and are received through revelation. The process may be foreign to you, but it cannot be bested.”

Borinder scoffed. “We’ll see about that. Begin.”

“Forty-six times seventy-seven?” Sam asked.

“Three thousand, five hundred and forty-two,” Borinder recited, as if he already had the answer memorized. “Thirty-three times eighty-eight.”

“Yo, Heinrich,” Sam said, throwing his hands out as if in supplication, “what is thirty-three times eighty-eight? It is two thousand, nine hundred and four.” Sam repeated the numbers back as he communicated with his phone through his earpiece. It was all Sam could do not to smile. If only his math teacher could see him now. He was horrible at arithmetic, and here he was trying to convince a bona fide genius that he received answers to math problems through a higher power.

“Let’s get this moving along, shall we?” Sam asked. “Seven hundred and ninety-six times three hundred and thirty-three.”

Borinder paused, and looked to the ceiling. “Two hundred and sixty-five thousand, and sixty-eight.” This man was incredible. If Sam wasn’t doing this to save Willow and his fingers, he may have felt bad for cheating. “Five hundred and sixty-four times nine hundred and seventy-seven.”

Sam asked Heinrich again before reciting the exact answer. “Five hundred and fifty-one thousand, and twenty-eight. I’m growing weary of simple questions. What is sixty-four million, four hundred thirty-four thousand, six hundred and three, divided by ninety-two thousand, two hundred and twenty-two? With up to four decimals.”

Borinder laughed. “What kind of absurdity is this?”

“Can’t answer it?” Sam probed. “A bit too much for you?”

“The answer can be solved, but is a bit outside the realms for a mental arithmetic challenge, young Mr. McGibbons.”

“For you, perhaps.” Sam gave a small shrug. He turned and walked over to examine a nearby display of knives. “But not for me. What’s so special about these blades? Before I pick my item, I will need to know a bit about its history if you would be so kind.”

“Asking a silly question doesn’t crown you the victor,” Borinder said, his patience finally starting to wear thin.

“Ask any silly question you would like. I, for one, will not shy away. Multiplication, division, square root. It’s all the same. My power knows few limits.”

“All right then. What is the square root of seven billion, four hundred and thirty-three million, seven hundred and twenty-nine thousand, and four?” Borinder asked, somehow making a large number sound like a threat.

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