six times seven
Mar. 31st, 2019 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marnanelCounsellor: here's something you can do about anxiety. What if I asked you: what's six times seven?
Marn: (long pause...) well, I have a first in computer science, and I was kept down in maths in primary school because I couldn't memorise my tables. But I can tell you that six squared is thirty-six, so it'll be that plus another six. So that'll be forty, plus two. Forty-two.
C: right, okay. So if you occupy yourself in thinking about things like whether six times seven is forty-two...
M: ...although I suppose I'd be more likely to think of forty-two as six times nine.
C: why?
M: well, do you know much about Douglas Adams?
Marn: (long pause...) well, I have a first in computer science, and I was kept down in maths in primary school because I couldn't memorise my tables. But I can tell you that six squared is thirty-six, so it'll be that plus another six. So that'll be forty, plus two. Forty-two.
C: right, okay. So if you occupy yourself in thinking about things like whether six times seven is forty-two...
M: ...although I suppose I'd be more likely to think of forty-two as six times nine.
C: why?
M: well, do you know much about Douglas Adams?
