Buying a Weeping Girl Under the Wintry Sky, and Making Her Too Happy. - Chapter 22: Weakness.
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- Chapter 22: Weakness.
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Weakness.
“Hey, Kazuya-kun.”
“What is it?”
“We have a test tomorrow, right?”
Yes. Miyu’s right, tomorrow is the start of the final exam of the third semester at our high school. For me, it’s a heavenly week because school ends early and I can work many part-time shifts! Besides, after the tests are over, we’ll have shortened classes and It’ll be spring break!
“Hmm. But what’s with it?”
“Kazuya, you’ve been working all the time instead of studying, is that okay?”
“No, I’m actually studying right now.”
Today was a day off from my part-time job, which I had two days a week, so I had no plans after school, so I was studying for the test tomorrow. However, since I was studying at the same table as Miyu, I wasn’t able to concentrate at all….
“I know, but ….What is your usual test ranking?”
“Hmm, about the 50th?”
Our high school has about 240 students per grade, so in terms of test ranking alone, I’m an average student. Well, not bad and not good, right?
“…How did you get such a high ranking when all you do is work part-time?”
“No, you can get a certain amount of points on a test if you remember the answers to the assignments.”
“I hardly ever see you doing that assignment. Kazuya-kun, you work part-time most of the time.”
“Of course I do it in the middle of the class.”
“Of course you do…”
Incidentally, Miyu seemed to have taken a break from her part-time job to study at home before the test. On the other hand, I’ve been going to my part-time job as usual, which must have bothered her.
“How high are you in the rankings, Miyu?”
“About tenth?”
“Well, you seem to be reading books all the time and you are smart.”
It may be a prejudice that people who read books all the time are smart, but Miyu actually seems to take time off from her part-time job to study, so I guess it’s all good.
“But …If this continues, I …I have to take extra classes during spring break….”
“What?”
Miyu, the tenth-ranked girl in her grade, taking make-up classes? Miyu comes to school every day, so there will be no supplementary classes in terms of attendance days… I don’t get it. If that’s the case, then all 230 students who are ranked lower than Miyu will have to take extra classes?
“I just can’t understand maths…”
“But if you’re ranked tenth or so in your grade, you’ve got the grounds right?”
“….I don’t.”
“What?”
“I said I don’t have grounds for it. I got a 32 in maths on my last test…”
“Oh, ohhh…”
That’s kind of ….That’s frankly awful… The average score on the previous maths test was 68, I believe, which means that Miyu’s maths score was less than half of the average score, which means that her maths score was a red mark. Even so, the fact that she was ranked tenth in her grade meant that her other subjects were that much better, right?
“By the way, how many points did you get in every subject except maths?”
“Almost a hundred in all?”
“Seriously….?”
Miyu told me that she has never scored more than 100 on a test in Japanese since junior high school. She also said that she has basically gotten perfect scores in English, science, and social studies, except for a few mediocre mistakes. That means that even if her maths is terrible, she can still get 10th place.
“So ….I want you to teach me maths…”
“I can teach you, but …I can’t teach you like a teacher because I’m basically just memorising how to solve the problems written in the answers to the assignments.”
“It’s okay. I still want you to teach me.”
“If you say so. By the way, what do don’t understand in maths?”
“I don’t know why the formula is the way it is.”
“I don’t understand that either.”
Miyu said that it’s not just about this test, but that she doesn’t understand why the formulas that are needed to solve maths problems are the way they are. It’s not that she doesn’t know how to use the formulas, it’s that she doesn’t understand the meaning of the formulas.
She can’t figure out why the formula is the way it is, why the problem can be solved using that only formula, why there are patterns in which the formula can be used and patterns in which it can’t be used in the same problem, and so on, and as a result, they can’t solve the problem.
“In science, I can understand because the textbook gives scientific reasons why things are the way they are, but in maths, I can’t understand because the textbook just gives formulas and there’s no explanation for those formulas.”
“Maybe that’s because they can’t explain how they derived the formula at the level of high school maths?”
“Why would you teach a formula like that to high school students?”
“You’ll have to ask the school board about that.”
“Kazuya-kun ….What do you think I should do?”
What do you think I should do? … If Miyu thinks too much about the meaning of the formula and as a result she can’t solve the problem, should she just try not to understand it?
“Isn’t it enough to just learn the formula and how to use it without thinking about it?”
“If you don’t think about anything, you’re as if you’re dead, right?”
“No, I’m not talking about that kind of philosophy. …For example, Miyu, do you understand how a shower works?”
“How a shower work?”
“Yes. Why does the water come out just by lifting the lever? How is it possible to adjust the temperature of the water by simply turning the protrusion on the side?”
“I don’t know. …Do you know about it, Kazuya-kun?”
I don’t think she knows anything about that. In fact, it’s not surprising that Miyu would know about it, and although it was a good example, I was nervous inside.
“I’m not going to know anything about that. It’s the same with maths formulas.”
“…What?”
“No, because you don’t understand how it works, but you know how to use it.”
“Ahh…”
“So, you’re thinking too hard, Miyu. What’s important is not how it works, but how you use it.”
Of course, there are things in the world that it is better to understand how they work. If a person who makes something does not understand how it works, that is a big problem. However, we don’t make anything, and moreover, the need to understand how a mathematical formula works is not important in terms of getting a score on a test. What’s important now is to learn how to solve problems using those formulas.
“I see. ….There are a lot of things that I don’t know how they work, but I know how to use them….”
“Do you think you can do it now?”
“I think I’ll be okay. Thanks.”
Miyu was smart by nature, so if all she had to do was memorise the formulas and solve them, she would be able to do it in no time at all. Besides, the maths test was in three days, so she still had plenty of time to study.