Important business is occurring in my kitchen. It�s late but deep thinking is going on. Day-Hay can�t get 113�and it�s taxing her father�s abilities as well. What is amazing is not that she needs help. Kat needed help on this project every step of the way. What is amazing is that Day-Hay has done so much of this project without help. What is even more amazing is how little Day-Hay grasps how amazing what she has done is.

It�s the time of year in seventh grade math for the fours project. The assignment is to make the numbers 1-120 using any operation you wish out of four fours. The only concession to the difficulty of the project is the introduction of a mathematical fiction: double factorials. The point of the project is to master the order of operations. Until now, I�ve always thought of it as one of those homework projects that teachers assign to parents as well as kids.

I got Day-Hay and her friend A. started on the project. I worked with them on 1-20, showing them the different possibilities and puzzling it out bit by bit. I did not keep the answers from before so I had to work each part out methodically. I showed them how knowing one answer can get you to another. I showed them some of the more common combinations that are helpful with the project. And I assumed that I would be working on it again.

But Day-Hay did not return for help. I assumed that maybe this year the teacher decided that doing only some of it was okay and would make his point. I forgot about the project. I didn�t think about it for weeks. I was wrong. Day-Hay was pressing ahead without me or her dad.

Today she asked for help with 113. She had everything else. When I pointed out how amazing the feat was, she brushed me off. �It�s just pattern,� she said. �You know I�m good with patterns.� But it is more than pattern. It is very sophisticated pattern that few seventh graders can see on their own.

Now it is after 10:00. Her normal bedtime is 9:30 although she often is awake until 10:00. But she and her dad (who likes this type of puzzle a lot) are working and you don�t disturb geniuses at work. And, whether she recognizes it or not, when it comes to this project she�s a genius at work.

If she could see it, if she could even glimpse it, I�ll be very glad. I�d feel four-tunate.

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