The joy of spending time together
Johnny and Sara had finished their exams and were glad that the semester was over. On the day of the final exam they just went home and caught up on their sleep. It was around noon the next day when Johnny phoned Sara and asked her if she wanted to come over. Sara said that Nana had made lunch for her. She would have a chat with Nana, eat the lunch and then come. Sara went over to visit Johnny. They started talking and then Johnny’s mom joined them.
Johnny’s mom: I saw that you guys had a day off. I also took a break from work to join the two of you,
Sara: Thanks. I am happy that you joined us.
Johnny’s mom: I am happy to see that you are spending time together. There was a time when Johnny’s dad and I used to hang out like this. Then we got married and had Johnny. We both got busy with our household chores and jobs. Now, we see each other at dinner, and only occasionally we get a chance to go out to be together. Sometimes, I feel so sad about it.
Sara: Johnny’s mom, it all depends on how you look at it.
Johnny’s mom: What do you mean?
Sara: I will show you after dinner.
Johnny: Dad’s away today. Why don’t the three of us go out for dinner?
Johnny’s mom: Okay. You guys choose the restaurant and Johnny can drive. Surprise me.
Dinner at Johnny and Sara’s Place
Sara went home to see Nana. Later Johnny and his mom picked her up and then they drove off. Johnny parked the car. They were at the restaurant ‘Johnny and Sara’s Place’ where they had their first dinner date. Johnny’s mom didn’t like that they were at this dinky little cheap restaurant but reserved her comments.
They sat down and a lady came with the menus. She said out loud to the cook, “Eh Johnny, look who is here. Johnny and Sara came back with another lady. Welcome to Johnny and Sara’s Place. I am Sara and I will be happy to take your orders.”
They ordered soup and burgers, yakked away while having this delicious food. Since they were the only customers, the waitress called her husband Johnny to introduce him to them.
Johnny’s mom: I am Johnny’s mother. Don’t you two get bored here. Both of you could have developed your careers.
The waitress: We like the slow paced life and this way Johnny and I are always together.
They paid the bill and went to Johnny’s home. Johnny’s mom saw that Sara had a laptop with her.
Johnny’s mom: Sara, do you always keep your laptop with you?
The sad graph
Sara: No. I brought it to show you something. The first picture is a bar diagram based only on my guesses but it makes a point. A boy and a girl meet, get interested in each other, hang out together for long hours, get married and have kids. It shows how many hours/year they spend with each other over the years. The number decreases considerably when they have kids.
Johnny’s mom: That’s my point. Isn’t it said? How does that cheer me up?
The happy graph from the same data
Sara: Now look at the second picture. It is based on the first picture. It shows the total number of hours they have spent with each other in their relationship. As you can see, this number is still increasing even past 30 years after they met. What matters is how long you hang out together in your life time rather than per year? You should be happy that this number is still going up.
Johnny’s mom: Sara, you are a gem. I never thought of it that way. You are right. It makes me happier that even after that many years our cumulative investment of hours with each other keeps increasing.
Sara: I guess Johnny will also learn more about the area under the curve in Calculus II.
With this Sara bade good night to Johnny’s mom and went home.
Challenge
The little girl Tracy is stacking square blocks. All the blocks are of the same size. She knows that she can put more blocks at the bottom than on the top. She starts with 15 blocks at the bottom, and then puts 14 blocks on top, and then 13 and continues until she has put 10 blocks on the top because she runs out of blocks. Her brother makes a bar graph of the number of blocks per row. She is sad that this graph is going down. To cheer her up, he graphs the cumulative number of blocks as she reaches different rows. She is happy that this graph went up, up and up. Draw the two graphs and see for yourself.
Solution: No solution provided. Just make the two bar diagrams.
Math Stories For You 