It begins when the teacher sends home a note. I am mortified to be sent home with a teacher’s note, knowing from televised situation comedies that teachers’ notes are usually bad news, with the child in enough trouble to warrant a collective “oooh” from a studio audience. There had been a few real-life situations that could have been construed as wacky misunderstandings but were classified as questionable misconduct. Apparently, there were several instances where my response to a teacher’s inquiry was inappropriate. I did not always take direction well. I was frequently answering to someone else’s name. However, instead of asking me — a mere child probably lacking the moral compass to be truthful in a way that aligned with a pre-conceived truth — why on Earth I would behave in such ways, when most other evidence pointed to my being a quiet and clever child, the teacher sends me home with a note for my mother.
A Japanese Math Problem at the Isaniwa Shrine from 1937
This sangaku comes from the Isaniwa Shrine in Matsuyama, Shikoku’s largest city, and is dated 1937. The smallest circle has radius 1. Find the…