Numbed! Read Online Free Page A

1:28.
    â€œIt’s better to start with the higher numbers,” Benedict said. “What’s 99 + 98? Are you sure that’s not a calculator? It would really help to have one.”
    I figured it would be easier to add the smaller numbers first. But either way, it still looked impossible to finish the problem before time ran out. The counter was down to 1:05. It didn’t matter whether we added from 99 down to 1, or from 1 up to 99. There was no way I could do either of those things quickly enough to beat the timer.
    â€œYou start with 99. I’ll start with 1,” Benedict said. “We can each do half. Hey—that’s actually a good idea.”
    â€œWait!” As I thought about those two numbers— 1 and 99—I felt a jolt shoot from my brain through my body. I wasn’t used to having ideas hit me so hard. Especially not ideas as awesome as this one.
    â€œWhat?” Benedict asked.
    â€œJust a second. Let me think.” This might work.
    â€œWe’re never going to get out of here,” Benedict said. He threw down his pencil. We’re going to starve to death. And I don’t see a bathroom. Do you see a bathroom? This room doesn’t have a toilet!” He ran to the table, snatched up the pencil cup, and dumped out all the pencils. “Mine!”
    I ignored him and wrote, “99, 98, 97, 96, 95” on the paper. Under that, I wrote, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” so the large and small numbers lined up in pairs. I held the paper up for Benedict to see.
99
98
97
96
95
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
    â€œLook.” The pattern jumped right off the page. I felt a chill run through me as I realized my idea would really work.
    â€œLook at what?”
    â€œWe can take pairs and add them. See, 99 + 1 = 100. So does 98 + 2. And 97 + 3. Get it? That makes it a lot easier. Every pair adds up to 100. Hundreds are easy to work with. How many pairs are there?”
    â€œWhy are you asking me?” Benedict said.
    â€œGood point.” I thought about it for a second, which was about all the time I could spare. The numbers from 1 through 49 matched up with the numbers from 99 down to 51. So there were 49 pairs. If the pairs added up to 100 each of those 49 times, that made a total of 4,900. I realized I also had to add in the 50, which didn’t get paired.
    As I rushed over to the keypad, I saw that the timer was down to 0:05. In five seconds, we’d be trapped.
    â€œIt’s 4,950!” I shouted as I punched in the digits.
    â€œYou sure?” Benedict asked.
    â€œNo.” I pressed Enter.
    The lock clicked and whirled. The bolt slid free, and the knob turned.
    â€œI changed my mind,” I said as the door swung open. “I’m sure.”
    Dr. Thagoras was waiting for us on the other side. “Let’s see, 9 + 3?” he asked.
    â€œThat’s 12,” I said.
    â€œAnd 7 – 2?” he asked Benedict.
    â€œIt’s 3,” Benedict said.
    â€œWhoa!” I shouted. “Did you say ‘3’?”
    â€œJust kidding,” Benedict said. “It’s 5.”
    I looked at my watch. Altogether, we’d only been in the museum about ten minutes. It was nice to be able to add again. “We’d better get going.” I didn’t want to keep my mom waiting.
    Benedict and I raced down the hallway. Behind us, Dr. Thagoras called, “Wait a minute. I just realized something.”
    â€œI’m sure it’s not important,” I told Benedict as we headed up the stairs.
    It’s amazing how often I’m wrong.

CHAPTER
1 × 2 × 3
    â€œ F eeling better?” Mom asked when Benedict and I got back to the car.
    â€œAbsolutely,” Benedict said.
    I held my watch in front of Benedict’s face. “Hey, if it takes fifteen minutes to reach your house, what time will we drop you off?”
    He gave me the right answer and said, “I wonder how many telephone