Once upon a time, three children named Melissa, Penelope, and Jared were walking through the woods after a night of trick-or-treating on October 30th. They were discussing all of the candies they had received when, all of a sudden, they noticed a sign. It read “Mortuary Maze”, with an arrow pointing to an unsettling kind of fog. The children walked towards the fog, in hopes that they were about to experience a really fun maze. As the fog cleared, they could see the entrance to the maze. As they were heading in, a group of bats swooped right above their heads. Jared yelled, “Holy crap! What was that?” Then, Penelope replied, “Oh, don’t be such a scaredy cat!” So, as Jared was gathering himself together, Melissa and Penelope went inside the maze. As soon as they walked in, a car rushed past them, leaving behind a pile of leaves. Before the children could speak, the car came back and stopped dead in its tracks, inches before grinding Penelope to a pulp. Melissa asked, “Who’s there?” in a very quiet voice. Then, someone replied, “I’m Tony Fast Jr., the NASCAR driver.” Jared yelled back, “No you’re not! Tony Fast Jr. died ages ago!” Tony then came around the corner, revealing his zombie-like body. Penelope’s jaw dropped. She said “What in the world are you?” Tony replied, “I did die, but I was cursed when I was a teenager. I am a zombie now. I don’t like people in my maze.” Jared said, “Well, if you’d please just let us through, we’ll be on our way.” Tony shouted, “No! The only way you’re getting past me is if you can answer a question about probability.” Melissa then stated, “But we don’t even know what that is!” Tony snapped back, “You incompetent little child! Probability is usually a fraction or a percent. It is what you want out of something, over the total amount that you have! Racing can help people with probability. For example, I am about to enter a race. I am competing against 25 other racers. I have a 1 in 26 or 1/26 chance of winning first place. “Oh I get it!” Penelope yelled. Tony replied, “Good. Now, you must solve a harder problem in order to get through. If I started 50 races, but only won 5, what is the probability of me winning my next race?” “Hm,” Penelope said. “That’s kind of hard.” Melissa then said, “I think I know it! If he’s won 5 races, and we want another win, and he’s started 50 total races, then that fraction would be 5/50 which reduces to 1/10. As a percent that would be… 10%!” Jared huffed and said, “Smarty-pants.” Tony Fast Jr. said that Melissa was right, so he told the children they could pass. “Go left,” he said. “Then you’ll meet your next challenge.” He then laughed and disappeared into the darkness.
The children took a left just like Tony told them to, and they suddenly came up to two girls, who looked like twins. They both said, “Hi! We’re disjointed Molly and Dolly! What are your names?” Jared replied, “I’m Jared, and these are Melissa and Penelope.” The twins giggled, and then said, “Oh, well you guys seem nice. We’re going to help you get through the maze! But first, we have to teach you about disjointed events. They are events that have nothing in common. So, if you rolled a dice, then pulled a marble out of a bag, those two things don’t have anything to do with each other. Disjointed events can be seen very easily through Venn Diagrams. If you were to diagram even numbers and odd numbers, no number is even and odd, so those events are disjointed! Do you get it?” “Yeah, I think so.” Jared said. “Okay,” the twins said, “then, if you were to diagram odd numbers and prime numbers, would they be disjointed or not?” Penelope got a sort of strange look on her face, and then she exclaimed, “I get it! No, they wouldn’t be disjointed because 3, 5, 7, and so on are prime and odd!” “Good job!” Molly and Dolly said. “Now you can pass. Just take a right.” “Thanks!” Melissa yelled back.
As they took a right, the children heard some strange sounds. They couldn’t tell exactly where they were coming from. Just as Penelope was about to ask what the noise was, they saw the most horrid thing ahead of them. It was two aliens, conjoined at the waist. They froze, stunned. They inched toward the children. Then one of them said, “We’re overlapping Jim and Tim.” Jared looked at them and said, “You guys are gross.” They snapped back, “Hey! Watch your mouth, boy. Now, if you kids want to get out of this maze, then you better listen up. I know you’ve already met Molly and Dolly. They taught you about disjointed events. We are going to teach you about overlapping events. Overlapping events are when two events have something in common. For example, if you roll a dice, and you get an even number, then you roll it again and you get a prime number. Now here’s where you need to remember what Tony Fast taught you, also. What you do is you get the probability of rolling the even number or the prime number. The probability of getting an even number would be 3/6 and the probability of getting a prime number would be 3/6. So, you add them up and you get 6/6 or 1. But, 2 is prime and even, so you have to subtract 1/6 for that 2. So, your answer is 5/6. Do you get it?” Jared looked blankly at Tim and Jim and said, “No.” Then Melissa rolled her eyes and said, “Well that’s because you’re a dork.” Jim and Tim then said, “Okay, since you guys sort of understand, I’m going to ask you a question about overlapping events. Here it goes. If you spin a spinner numbered 1-6 two times, and the first time you want a 6, and the second time you want a multiple of three, what’s the probability of getting them, and are the events disjointed or overlapping?” Jared jumped up in the air and yelled, “I get it now! The probability of getting a 6 is 1/6 and the probability of getting a multiple of 3 is 2/6 because there is 3 and 6 on the spinner. So, when you add those together you get 3/6, or 1/2. But 6 is a multiple of 3 as well as the number 6, so you have to subtract 1/6 to make up for it. So, your final answer is 2/6, which reduces to 1/3.” Tim and Jim were very surprised. They said, “Yes, that’s correct. We thought since Molly and Dolly went easy on you, this problem would be too hard. You kids aren’t as dumb as I thought. You may pass. Just go straight ahead.
As the children walked, a kind of plump man jumped out in front of them and shouted, “Hi, I’m Owen Outcomes! I’m here to teach you about…well, outcomes!” Penelope said, “I’m really tired of all this math. Can’t we just go home now?” Owen said, “Well, you have to finish the maze, but I’ll help you. Anyway, outcomes are how many of something is possible. For example, if I roll a dice one time, I could have six different outcomes because I could roll a one, two, three, four, five, or six. That’s basically it. Outcomes are really easy. Oh, and remember: with outcomes, you ALWAYS multiply! That’ll help you guys later. Now, you are going to try a problem. If you roll a dice 3 times, how many different outcomes are possible?” Melissa looked up and said, “I got this. Okay, if you roll it once, you have 6 different outcomes, and if you roll it 3 times, you have 18 different outcomes because 6 times 3 is equal to 18!” Owen clapped and shouted, “Good job! Now you can pass, take a right, then another right.”
While they took a right, then another right just like Owen said, the children talked amongst themselves about how badly they wanted to go home, and how afraid they were. Even Jared shed a tear or two. As they talked, they came to a big tree. At the base, a tall woman with a crooked smile stood watched them. She lunged forward and screamed, “Stop right where you are! You may not pass until you can answer a question about the counting principle! My name’s Carly, Carly Counting Principle. Here’s the rundown. The counting principle goes with outcomes. It means to multiply all the outcomes together. For example, if I have 4 shirts, 5 pairs of pants, and 3 pairs of shoes, how many outfits could I possibly make? The answer would be 60 outfits, because I multiplied 5 and 4 which is equal to 20, and then I multiplied 20 by 3 and got 60. Now you have to do a problem to be able to pass. I’m going to make it a hard one. If I’m at McDonald’s and I have a choice of a Big Mac, Double Cheeseburger, or a McChicken, 7 different drinks, and ice cream or apple pie, how many possible meals could I get?” Penelope looked unsure and said, “Well I think I might know but I need help.” Melissa replied, “I’ll help you.” Penelope smiled and said, “Okay, so you have 3 main courses and 7 drinks. 3 times 7 is, um…” “21.” Melissa said. “Yeah, 21.” Penelope replied, quietly. Then Melissa stated, “You also have 2 desserts, and 21 times 2 is 42. So, you could make 42 different meals!” Jared licked his lips and whispered, “I’m hungry.” Then Carly said, “That’s right. I guess I will let you through. Climb this tree for your next challenge.” Penelope looked astonished and shouted, “Climb the tree? I’m too pudgy to climb the tree!” “Oh just do it!” Carly yelled.
The children climbed up the really tall tree and they saw a small tree house perched on the very top branch. They decided to enter, and as they did, they saw a little boy sitting in the center of the floor, playing with some toys. He slowly turned around to see Jared, Melissa, and Penelope standing there, staring at him. He stood up and said, “Hi. I’m Tyler Tree Diagrams. I’m supposed to show you guys how to build a tree diagram.” Jared looked him up and down then snarled, “You’re only like 6. How are you supposed to show us how to do tree diaphragms?” “Um, it’s diagrams.” Melissa said. “Whatever.” Tyler replied, “Well, that’s what Carly told me to do. So, I’m going to do it. A tree diagram is a picture that helps you to see all the possible outcomes of an event. So, if I’m making a Build-A-Bear, I could get a brown, white, or black bear. It could have a red, green, blue, or yellow shirt, and it could have flip-flops or tennis shoes. So, you draw the tree diagram like this.” He then drew it on the board. Melissa and Penelope got that deer-in-headlights look, so Tyler explained it out. “Okay, you have 3 types of bears, with 4 types of shirts. You draw 4 lines, and then label them for each of the 4 shirts. Then, you do the same with the 2 types of shoes.” “Oh okay.” Penelope and Melissa chanted in unison. Tyler said, “Okay, I have to ask you a question about tree diagrams before you can pass. This question is going to be very hard. What do tree diagrams help you to see?” Jared yelled, “Ooh I know! Outcomes! You said that earlier.” Then he stretched out his hand to Melissa for a high five. Melissa laughed and said, “Not on your life, sport.” Tyler chuckled, “Great job, you guys may now pass through.” Penelope said, “Great! So, where do we go?” At that moment, Tyler threw some pixie dust at the children and they vanished.
They reappeared in a pitch black spot in the maze, with twisting trees, and a whirling wind that howled like a wolf. In the pale moonlight, they could see a tiny cottage in the distance. The children unanimously decided to go check it out, and as they were walking, they stepped in something that felt like mud. They looked down, and realized that they were in the middle of a swamp. They quickly ran out of the area and to the cottage. As they knocked, the door suddenly swung open, creaking ever so loudly. The children slowly walked through the front room, guided only by the faint sounds of humming from a different room. Penelope quietly, almost in a whisper, said “Hello?” while shaking. A loud voice came back with a, “Who’s in my house?” making everything on the shelves shake so violently that they almost fell to the floor. Suddenly, a dark figure passed in front of the children, saying “I’m Marie. Marie Laveau, the voodoo lady. You must be Penelope, Melissa, and Jared. I’m supposed to teach you about set theory. I’m going to teach you some definitions, so be quiet and listen. First, there’s union. It means each number in each set that you are talking about. It’s kind of like the sets are married. Its symbol is U. Next, there’s intersection. It means what each set that you are talking about has in common. Its symbol is an upside down U. Then you have subset. Something can only be a subset of something else if everything in that set is in another set. Its symbol is a U on its side with a line underneath. Now, there’s compliment. That means all the numbers NOT included in the set. Its symbol is a wavy line. Last, there’s null set. Its symbol is an O with a line through it. You use it when there are no numbers in the set that you’re talking about.” Marie then flailed her arms and mumbled something, and then everything she just said came up in the air. “Here’s a reminder.” she said. Jared wasn’t paying attention, so Marie took out a doll that looked just like him, and she poked it in the butt with a pushpin. Jared shrieked, “Ouch!” Marie laughed and said, “You’d better pay attention!” Then she mumbled something else, and all the writing in the air disappeared. “Now, I am going to quiz you on what I’ve taught you. Which term has the symbol of a wavy line, and what does it mean?” Penelope said, “I know this one. It’s compliment. It means all the numbers that aren’t in the set that you’re talking about.” Marie said, “Good. Now, you children may pass through. Just walk out the door of my house, take a left, and keep walking. You’ll know when to stop.”
The children were walking and it seemed like they had been walking forever, when suddenly they walked into an area where the grass was pink, the moon was green, the trees were blue, and there were people walking around with no heads, giant rabbits and squirrels were talking with each other about the weather, and candy was falling from the sky! As they continued to walk, they saw apples growing from the ground, and chocolate leaking from the trees. They stopped to look all around them, and they each felt a tap on the back. When they turned around, a little girl with a blue dress, blonde hair, and striped socks waved at them and said, “Hi! I’m Irrational Alice, and this is my wonderland! I’m going to help you understand irrational numbers, using everything in my wonderland as an example. First off, irrational numbers are numbers that, in their decimal form, never repeat and never stop. They go on forever and ever. An example is pi. Its decimal form is 3.14159 etc. etc. etc. It never stops. Just like my wonderland. You can walk and walk and walk but you’ll never get out without using magic. Also, non-perfect squares are irrational. Here’s a test to see if you’ve been listening. Is 2.3232 and so on irrational?” Melissa thought for a few seconds, then said, “No, because it repeats itself!” Alice giggled and replied, “Great job! Now, I’ll use my magic to get you to the next part of the maze.” She then took out a wand that was glowing pink, and waved it around. Poof! The children were gone.
The children were suddenly in what appeared to be a classroom, where every single thing had its place. The room was extremely clean and everything was color-coded and labeled. They were walking to the chalkboard when the teacher walked in. He was bald and he had glasses on, he wore a button-up shirt with a pocket protector and khakis. He looked like a total nerd. He looked at the children, then he said, “Hi, I’m Mr. Hopkins! Most people call me Mr. Rational because I’m… well, rational! Or, I’m kind of OCD. Either way, I’m supposed to tell you all about my favorite thing… rational numbers! They are numbers that, in their decimal form, always stop or repeat. Examples are: fractions, perfect squares, and whole numbers. So, 1/3, the square root of 81, and 23 are all rational. Rational numbers are really easy to understand. So, is 7.11 rational?” Jared laughed and said, “No, it’s…” Melissa slapped him on the arm and said, “Yes it is rational because it stops.” Jared rolled his eyes and said, “Smarty-pants.” Melissa slapped him again and shouted, “Don’t make me give you another swirly!” Mr. Hopkins said, “Okay, you’re right. To get to your next destination, walk down the hall and take a right.”
The children walked down the hall and took a right. They ended up in the school gym. Jared did a Jersey Shore fistpump in the air and yelled, “Yes! Finally something I’m good at!” They walked farther into the gymnasium, where a wrestling ring was set up in the room. A man came from the locker room, smiled, and screamed, “I’m the Miz, and I’m AWESOME!” He saw the children and walked over to them. You little dodos better remember that! I am awesome! I am perfect! No one gets in my way!” Melissa tapped her foot and snapped, “Just teach us the math already!” The Miz stared at Melissa for a long time, and then he said, “Okay, pushy. I’m going to teach you about perfect squares, since I’m perfect. A perfect square is the result when you multiply any number by itself. For example, if you multiply 10 times 10, you get 100. 100 is a perfect square. So, if you multiply awesome times awesome, you get The Miz. The Miz is perfect! Melissa coughed, then she whispered, “Conceited.” The Miz looked at Penelope and said, “Who crapped in her cornflakes? Anyway, answer this question. Is the result of 15 times 100 a perfect square?” Penelope grinned, “No, because it has to be the same number. You can’t use two different ones.” The Miz said, “Uh-huh. Go out of this room, through the playground and in the next door you come to. That’ll get you to… whatever. You’ll figure it out. Then The Miz walked off.
As the children passed through the playground, Penelope said, “You guys, I really want to go home now. I don’t want to do math anymore.” Melissa patted her back and said, “I know, Penelope. It’ll be okay. Trust me.” They saw a door, and entered it. It looked like a kitchen. It was the school’s home economics classroom. The children heard some moaning noises, which scared Penelope very badly. The lights in the classroom started flashing and then a ghost started talking to them. Melissa yelled, “Oh my gosh, this school is haunted! Just when I thought all this was over!” The ghost said with a voice like thunder, “I’m the home ec teacher. My name’s Mr. McKinley. I’m going to teach you about estimating square roots. In cooking, you can estimate. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of milk, and it serves 2 people, you can estimate and put in 2 cups if you are serving 4 people. Square roots aren’t too different. For example, if you have the square root of 21, that’s not perfect. You have to estimate what it would be. Since 4 times 4 is 16 and 5 times 5 is 25, 21 falls in between those two numbers. 21 is a little bit closer to 25 than it is to 16 so you can estimate the square root of 21 to be 4.6. 4.5 or 4.7 would also be acceptable. Now, you try. Estimate the square root of 38.” Jared said, I think I know.” Melissa said, “Wow, I’m shocked!” Jared yelled, “Be quiet, Melissa! Anyway, it would be between 6 and 7, but it’s way closer to 6. So, I’d say… 6.1.” Mr. McKinley replied, “Good. You’ve completed Mortuary Maze. Go out of this room and run! Run and don’t stop!”
The children ran as fast as they could. Suddenly, they were out of the school and back into the dark parts of the maze. The saw Alice, Marie, Tim and Jim, Tony Fast, and everyone else. But, they didn’t stop running. They kept going until they were on Melissa’s doorstep. They ran inside, and hugged Melissa’s mom so tightly. She looked down at them and said, “You kids are something else.”
THE END