Project in

Math

Submitted by: micah lalo

9-acacia
 Submitted to mrs. Lilibeth
alabot
“Mean Jays”
Konnichiwa! Watashi wa Tebie short for Tebitha. I actually a freshman to PNS (Pienes
National School) and just transferred here last July. I’m a die-hard cosplayer and I belong to Block
3F. Our room is located third room in the fourth floor of the new Triplet Towers and every 4:30
am we have to walk 274 meters from the main gate through a “rice field” with our large boots put
on and struggle up the stairs which seem to get longer day by day. Usually our classes would start
4:45 am sharp (I’m running late as always T_T) and end at 12:30 and then resumes at 1:45 pm as
we all have to finish noontime cleaning before having class, and we are dismissed 3:30 in the
afternoon. My doctor says that it is hard for me to go on a schedule like that because aside from
the hefty journey to our classroom, I experience frequent migraine from our advanced mathematics
and science activities – even non-STE students are required to undergo Advanced Mathematics
and Engineering (ADME), and Advanced Sciences (ASci) which occupy around 2 hours each day.
They say “free” days don’t exist anymore unlike for the past years of the K12 curriculum.
In my not-so-much-comfortable stay here in last month, I could recount many funny
coincidences that happened in our block. As there are so many of them that I myself had lost
count, now I’ll tell you one (now don’t tell my teacher I just wrote this story to be my lately
submitted project).
In our classroom there are (less than or equal to) three Jays. Three(or less than) Jays in the
sense that their last names are the same. It is very confusing for us which Jay would come at front
to write long equations in the board. Well, every one of them is good at all subjects- especially at
when comes to mathematics.
Let me introduce to you Shawn T. Jay, according to our trusted gossip news source, he is
the best among them when it comes to speed and accuracy. Short and plump, he already won many
awards in all subjects and has the most number of awards in math and in addition he was the
Campus King. Next, we have Dan D. Jay, he has the shortest name in our school which consists
of a total of eight letters. An Olympics (maybe MendOlympics) swimming silver medalist they
say he is and with his “abs” (or maybe tabs) he attracts a lot of girls in the campus with his weird
but cool eyebrows which they (how come?) to adore very much; he is also profound in math but
is more expert in Science. And for the last Jay..hmmm…she is Claydee R. Jay and I hardly hear
any stories about her as she is usually silent and sleeping during class hours but they do say she
also does well when it comes to photography and campus journalism.
 One afternoon, we had our fourth long test in our AME where the topic was about solving
problems involving quadratic equations. In our block there are just six people who passed the test.
We would assume Shawn Jay would have the highest score (which is either equal to or less than
three mistakes in every hundred-item test) which is usually true. But in this day’s exam we were
shocked by a revelation- Dan and Claydee surpassed Shawn by ten points.
After class, after every one of our classmates had went out I was surprised that Shawn Jay
suddenly blocked the only door out of our classroom. I thought he was up to something else but
he (ahemm, may be she? hmm…) then unblocked the way and whispered some words to my
listening ears, “Sist’, I know we’re friends right? Could you help me take revenge?”.
That was what he whispered to me so silently. Suddenly, I felt sigh of relief from my
thoughts, and then I eventually got into thinking of ways to help him with his problem. I was
feeling nervous and questions ran in my mind- “why ask help from me?”- I’m just a nobody. Then
he was into being a little emotional and he kept trying to hold back his tears which were already
trickling from a few drops and...
“Can you help me get them a coffin?” He said as he got a little redder and sweatier, his
breathing was going a little faster and his nose starts running and he sits. It was already 5 pm and
twilight is bathing our room in a light with mixing vermillion, crimson, orange and pink. “I want
you to first find the box in the ground in the nearby vacant lot whose length is its height add two
meters and its width is 1.5 m and its volume is 12 square meters. I had it ready but I want you to
know its dimensions as there are many other boxes there.”
“Hmmm…
The given are:
l= h+2m
w=1.5m
v=12sqm
Substituting it into the formula for finding the volume of a rectangular prism…
L x W x H= V
L=(h+2)
W= 1.5 or 3/2
H= h
V= 12
Our equation would be…
(h+2)(3/2)h=12
Reordering…
3/2 (h+2) x h -12 = 0
3/2 h2 + 3h -12 = 0
Mulitplying both sides by 2…
3h2 + 6h – 24= 0
Simplifying…
h2 + 2h – 8= 0
Using quadratic formula to get the roots…
−2±√22 −4 𝑥 1 𝑥 (−8)
ℎ= 2(1)

−2 ± √4 + 32
ℎ=
2
−2 ± √36
ℎ=
2
−2 ± 6
ℎ=
2
h=2
h = -4
Substituting these values for h in our equation…
h2 + 2h – 8 = 0; h=2
(2)2 + 2(2) -8 = 0
4+4–8=0
0=0
h2 + 2h – 8 = 0; h= -4
(-4)2 + 2(-4) -8 = 0
16 – 16 = 0
0=0
However, there is no negative value of depth in real life, so we get the h = 2 as the our depth.
Our length is h + 2, therefore the length is four meters and the depth is two meters.”
 Shawn rose from being sitting and crying on his chair, stood still, and he wiped out his
tears using his Hello Kitty towel and then grabbed his bag and left the room before I did. I thought
over if I can still do what he asks, but even though it is a daunting task to me (later…) I was happy
to see how I comforted him in his devilish mood. Maybe even a dizzying math problem solving
can sooth a smart kid who was cheated by his own friends. Picking up the last piece of paper on
the floor which I ought to, I looked it up and read the words “Thanks for being there -Shawn.”
And I hurried downstairs before the gates would close at six in the evening.

The End