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[316]

[318] Maine having been lost altogether, recall.

[319] Incandenza family idiom for leftovers.

[320] Main library, M.I.T., East Cambridge.

[321]Q.v. for a confirming example!93Oh. Thurs., 12 November Y.D.A.U., Rm. 204 Sub-dorm B:

‘No, look, it’s still Rise Over Run. The derivative’s the slope of the tangent at some point along the function. It doesn’t matter what point until they give you the point on the test.’

‘Will this even be on the Boards? Do they go past trig?’

‘This is fucking trig. They’ll give you word problems that may involve changing quantities — something accelerating, a voltage, inflation of O.N.A.N. currency over U.S. currency. Differentiation’ll save you half the time, all those triangles inside triangles to figure change with trig. Trig’s a Unit-bender on rate-changes. Derivatives’re just trig with some imagination. You imagine the points moving inexorably toward each other until for all practical purposes they’re the same point. The slope of a defined line becomes the slope of a tangent to one point.’

‘One point that’s in fact actually two points?’

‘You use your goddamn imagination, Inc, plus a couple prescribed limits. Which they won’t fuck with you on limits on the general test, trust me. This is a big pink titty compared to an Eschaton calculation. You move the two points you’re doing Rise-over-Run on infitesimally close together, you end up with a plug-in formula.’

‘Can I tell you about my dream now and then we’ll use the momentum from that to plow through this?’

‘Just write this on your wrist or something. Function x, exponent n, the derivative’s going to be nx + x^n-1 for any kind of first-order rate-of-increase thing they’re going to ask you. This assumes a definable limit, of course, which no way they’re going to fuck with you on limits on the fucking Boards.’

‘It was a DMZ-dream.’

‘Do you see how you’re going to apply this to a rate-of-increase-type little story they’ll pose?’

‘It involved your experimental soldier, the massive dose.’

‘Let me just close this door, here.’

‘It was the Leavenworth convict. The one you said had left the planet. The one belting out Ethel Merman. It was horrific, Mikey. In the dream I was the soldier.’

‘So you’re now going to assume a real you-know-what experience will be similar to the experience of a nightmare.’

‘Aha. Why nightmare? Why do you assume it was a nightmare? Did I use the word nightmare?’

‘You used the word horrific. I assume it wasn’t a romp through the heather.’