Anatomy          1       2

 Pattern and Punishment^©

       During the 18^th century, there was a boy named Carl Friedrich Gauss who attended his grades school.

Carl’s teacher was having a problem with his behavior. To get Carl settled, the teacher give him a very tedious task.

“Add all the numbers from 1 to 100.” The teacher commanded Carl.

The teacher smiled and continued on what he was doing, assuming that Carl would take a long time to do the task.

But he was in for a surprise; Carl was soon back with an answer, and more so – it was correct. The boy grew up to be one of the greatest mathematician ever lived.

Do you want to know how Carl did it? Here’s how he recognized that 1+100 = 101 and 2 + 99 =101. The same is true with the other pairs. Knowing that there are fifty pairs, Carl multiplied 50 and 101 and got 5050. Would that take you a minute? Is it not easy after you see the pattern?

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Marjonnel