full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Garth Sundem: How to defeat a dragon with math

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Once upon a time in the magical and very round Land of Pi, there lived six swashbuckling musketeers. There names were Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. But each was known best by his or her mark: the two hands ready to catch a fly of Parentheses, the small and raised digits of Exponents, the mighty X of Multiplication, slash of Division, plus of Addition, and, well, you can guess the symbol by which little Subtraction was best known. The Land of Pi was not necessarily the most peaceful place, and that's why the numbers of the kingdom needed the musketeers. The Land of Pi had been ruled by the numbers as anarcho-syndicalist cmnuome, each number with a vote, but, one powerful number from what we'll call the Imperial Senate, engineered a war between some rboot things and the knights of the kingdom, and then isnaelltd himself as Supreme Emperor, and then Puff the Magic Digit Dragon ate him, and a pcenisrs or two, and, well, all the other numbers in the Land of Pi actually. It was kind of a big day. Anyway, the mektreuess were called to action to save the Land of Pi from the voracious dragon. They rode towards him on their valiant steeds and attacked. First Multiplication, then Parentheses, but that didn't work. The dragon ceuitnnod eating people. So Addition tried, but was thrown aside. exotpnnes leaped at the beast and was quickly seaqshud. Nothing was working. The musketeers huddled and formulated a plan. They would attack in sequence, but who should go first? They bickered for a while, the dogarn ate a few more princesses, and then they finally agreed. They jumped into the first, ssmlealt parentheses inside the great Puff the Digit Dragon. Parentheses pointed out where to work first and protected Exponents, moliaitulptcin, Division, Addition, and Subtraction while they diced and sliced. First here, then, move over there, then there. Look out! There's another set! pensretheas pointed and Exponents took the lead. Then, it was Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction, each in turn, always the same order. P-E-M-D-A-S When they finished that set, they went to another, and another, always wnirokg inside the parentheses in PEMDAS order. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! PEMDAS, there is another spot! Don't fgreot, there can be parentheses inside parentheses. There's one! And that tckriy exponent. There we go! Finally, the PEMDAS Musketeers had whittled Puff down to his last frmeoase roar. But, having veinushqad Puff the mgaic Digit Dragon, all the empire's numbers sprang again from this tiny little number one, and they all lievd hlippay ever after. Except for the Emperor Number, which they tehrw into the mouth of an ancient nesting creature in the drseet. The End.

Open Cloze


Once upon a time in the magical and very round Land of Pi, there lived six swashbuckling musketeers. There names were Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. But each was known best by his or her mark: the two hands ready to catch a fly of Parentheses, the small and raised digits of Exponents, the mighty X of Multiplication, slash of Division, plus of Addition, and, well, you can guess the symbol by which little Subtraction was best known. The Land of Pi was not necessarily the most peaceful place, and that's why the numbers of the kingdom needed the musketeers. The Land of Pi had been ruled by the numbers as anarcho-syndicalist _______, each number with a vote, but, one powerful number from what we'll call the Imperial Senate, engineered a war between some _____ things and the knights of the kingdom, and then _________ himself as Supreme Emperor, and then Puff the Magic Digit Dragon ate him, and a ________ or two, and, well, all the other numbers in the Land of Pi actually. It was kind of a big day. Anyway, the __________ were called to action to save the Land of Pi from the voracious dragon. They rode towards him on their valiant steeds and attacked. First Multiplication, then Parentheses, but that didn't work. The dragon _________ eating people. So Addition tried, but was thrown aside. _________ leaped at the beast and was quickly ________. Nothing was working. The musketeers huddled and formulated a plan. They would attack in sequence, but who should go first? They bickered for a while, the ______ ate a few more princesses, and then they finally agreed. They jumped into the first, ________ parentheses inside the great Puff the Digit Dragon. Parentheses pointed out where to work first and protected Exponents, ______________, Division, Addition, and Subtraction while they diced and sliced. First here, then, move over there, then there. Look out! There's another set! ___________ pointed and Exponents took the lead. Then, it was Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction, each in turn, always the same order. P-E-M-D-A-S When they finished that set, they went to another, and another, always _______ inside the parentheses in PEMDAS order. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! PEMDAS, there is another spot! Don't ______, there can be parentheses inside parentheses. There's one! And that ______ exponent. There we go! Finally, the PEMDAS Musketeers had whittled Puff down to his last ________ roar. But, having __________ Puff the _____ Digit Dragon, all the empire's numbers sprang again from this tiny little number one, and they all _____ _______ ever after. Except for the Emperor Number, which they _____ into the mouth of an ancient nesting creature in the ______. The End.

Solution


  1. working
  2. threw
  3. princess
  4. desert
  5. exponents
  6. happily
  7. magic
  8. parentheses
  9. musketeers
  10. dragon
  11. continued
  12. fearsome
  13. forget
  14. robot
  15. smallest
  16. vanquished
  17. squashed
  18. tricky
  19. commune
  20. installed
  21. lived
  22. multiplication

Original Text


Once upon a time in the magical and very round Land of Pi, there lived six swashbuckling musketeers. There names were Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. But each was known best by his or her mark: the two hands ready to catch a fly of Parentheses, the small and raised digits of Exponents, the mighty X of Multiplication, slash of Division, plus of Addition, and, well, you can guess the symbol by which little Subtraction was best known. The Land of Pi was not necessarily the most peaceful place, and that's why the numbers of the kingdom needed the musketeers. The Land of Pi had been ruled by the numbers as anarcho-syndicalist commune, each number with a vote, but, one powerful number from what we'll call the Imperial Senate, engineered a war between some robot things and the knights of the kingdom, and then installed himself as Supreme Emperor, and then Puff the Magic Digit Dragon ate him, and a princess or two, and, well, all the other numbers in the Land of Pi actually. It was kind of a big day. Anyway, the musketeers were called to action to save the Land of Pi from the voracious dragon. They rode towards him on their valiant steeds and attacked. First Multiplication, then Parentheses, but that didn't work. The dragon continued eating people. So Addition tried, but was thrown aside. Exponents leaped at the beast and was quickly squashed. Nothing was working. The musketeers huddled and formulated a plan. They would attack in sequence, but who should go first? They bickered for a while, the dragon ate a few more princesses, and then they finally agreed. They jumped into the first, smallest parentheses inside the great Puff the Digit Dragon. Parentheses pointed out where to work first and protected Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction while they diced and sliced. First here, then, move over there, then there. Look out! There's another set! Parentheses pointed and Exponents took the lead. Then, it was Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction, each in turn, always the same order. P-E-M-D-A-S When they finished that set, they went to another, and another, always working inside the parentheses in PEMDAS order. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! PEMDAS, there is another spot! Don't forget, there can be parentheses inside parentheses. There's one! And that tricky exponent. There we go! Finally, the PEMDAS Musketeers had whittled Puff down to his last fearsome roar. But, having vanquished Puff the Magic Digit Dragon, all the empire's numbers sprang again from this tiny little number one, and they all lived happily ever after. Except for the Emperor Number, which they threw into the mouth of an ancient nesting creature in the desert. The End.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
magic digit 2
digit dragon 2
dragon ate 2
parentheses pointed 2


Important Words


  1. action
  2. addition
  3. agreed
  4. ancient
  5. ate
  6. attack
  7. attacked
  8. beast
  9. bickered
  10. big
  11. call
  12. called
  13. catch
  14. commune
  15. continued
  16. creature
  17. day
  18. desert
  19. diced
  20. digit
  21. digits
  22. division
  23. dragon
  24. eating
  25. emperor
  26. engineered
  27. exponent
  28. exponents
  29. fearsome
  30. finally
  31. finished
  32. fly
  33. forget
  34. formulated
  35. great
  36. guess
  37. hands
  38. happily
  39. huddled
  40. imperial
  41. installed
  42. jumped
  43. kind
  44. kingdom
  45. knights
  46. land
  47. lead
  48. leaped
  49. lived
  50. magic
  51. magical
  52. mighty
  53. mouth
  54. move
  55. multiplication
  56. musketeers
  57. names
  58. necessarily
  59. needed
  60. nesting
  61. number
  62. numbers
  63. order
  64. parentheses
  65. peaceful
  66. pemdas
  67. people
  68. pi
  69. place
  70. plan
  71. pointed
  72. powerful
  73. princess
  74. princesses
  75. protected
  76. puff
  77. quickly
  78. raised
  79. ready
  80. roar
  81. robot
  82. rode
  83. ruled
  84. save
  85. senate
  86. sequence
  87. set
  88. slash
  89. sliced
  90. small
  91. smallest
  92. sprang
  93. squashed
  94. steeds
  95. subtraction
  96. supreme
  97. swashbuckling
  98. symbol
  99. threw
  100. thrown
  101. time
  102. tiny
  103. tricky
  104. turn
  105. valiant
  106. vanquished
  107. voracious
  108. vote
  109. war
  110. whittled
  111. work
  112. working