Math

         I felt out of place during my algebra midterm examination. It was exam day, and we were assigned a tedious exercise dealing with linear inequalities.  Everybody was so tense and focused in making this a final attempt at a passing grade, that I really felt out of place; for I believed I was the only one who was struggling to keep myself  from laughing. The reason because during our previous meeting our teacher assigned us to write an essay about what we have learned and experienced in his class regarding basic algebra. Now, I might not be the best writer out there or the most enthusiastic when it comes to essays, but whenever a teacher gave us an essay, I always took every opportunity to make them laugh.

         So I sat there on that sunny August day, my mind divided between solving a simple linear inequality equation and imagining my teacher's expression once he read my essay. Feeling conscious of the time limit, I knew I had to get my head in order if I planned on not taking this class again next semester. I picked up my pen and started to write my answer when suddenly my teacher let out a laugh that startled half the class. He looked up from his desk and stared at me while he read the following from my essay:

         "Algebra can be found into our lives today. The number of pretty girls in class for example, can be calculated by first simplifying beauty into two categories of inequalities and counting the number of girls that falls under each system of linear equations."

         He paused slowly and then read. "There is no solution."

         He looked up from my paper and I grinned. He asked me," Why is there no solution?"

         I replied,"If you made two equations that created two separate lines on an X-Y axis to define beauty and ugly, any portion above the beauty line would mean that the girl is beautiful. Any portion underneath the ugly line means that the girl is ugly. Anything in between means that the girl is neither beautiful nor ugly and is a middle balance of pretty."

         He looked puzzled, "Why is there no solution? Do you mean to say there are no pretty girls in the class?"

         Knowing that everyone in the classroom was now paying more attention to me than their exams, I looked at him straight in the eye and said,"There is no solution sir, because in my eyes, all girls are beautiful.'

         With this, he let out another loud laugh and asked if I really meant that. "Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, Mr. Agunod."

         I gave him a quizzical look and said yes I really meant that, that's why I wore my glasses.

         He again looked puzzled and said,"So you can see their beauty better?"

         "No sir, it's to correct my vision."