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The teacher was back behind his desk. He planned to start the lesson by testing the waters. He needed to know the level of the students first before he could teach them. If he went for something too complex or too easy, they wouldn't be interested and wouldn't learn much. It was better to spend a bit of time getting to know their abilities before trying to improve them. He began his lesson: "Alright then, Space Travelling Theories it is. In this class, we will be looking at the mathematics behind the phenomenon of travelling through space. Let start this easily with a question you should have had during the entrance exam. Can anybody tell me the most basic equation related to space travel?"

Many students lifted their hands to show they were ready to answer. Ivan and Laila were part of the group. Laila wished to answer because she knew the answer and wanted the teacher to become aware of her. Showing your good side to a teacher always helped during grading times. The teachers themselves might not be aware of it but they tended to be much more generous towards the students they liked. As for Ivan, he wanted to show off to Nancy through displaying his knowledge.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the teacher wasn't too keen on interrogating them. Since they sat so close to the troublemaker, he feared they were similar. He didn't want to take the chance right away. If he ended up on two dolts after two tries, even he would feel disappointed and no longer in the mood to tutor the students. He picked a random guy from the front.

The guy got up and introduced himself: "Greetings Professor, I am Troel Skovs. To answer your question, it depends on what we are looking to calculate"

The teacher nodded. This had been a trap question. There weren't any basic formulas related to space travel, there were many related formulas usable in different situations. He decided to add some to the answer as the kid sat back down: "That is true. There isn't one simple formula related to space travel but many. What matters, for us, is to use them correctly in the required scenarios. Let us take an example first"

Ron kept on noting down things seriously on his wrist-com. Up to here, he was able to understand. However, as he saw the teacher draw a big circle then a line under it, he wasn't quite certain anymore. Weren't they speaking about formulas? Why did he draw a circle and a line?

The teacher was oblivious to Ron's questions and wouldn't have cared either way. He turned back to the class and began to enunciate his example: "This circle here represents a comet. This line is the representation of the trajectory of our spaceship"

The teacher picked a different color to draw more lines. Those lines linked the circle to the first line. He spoke: "These are what the representation of the linear distances between our spaceship and the comet at different time intervals. This one in particular corresponds to when the spaceship was perpendicular to the comet according to its trajectory. What we know is this distance in particular as well as the distance at the very start of our travel. In total, two distances. What I want to know is the distance at the other time intervals. Can anyone tell me the required formula?"

There was a pause as the students began to think. Moments later, hands began to rise up. The teacher waited for a few seconds more before he picked another guy at the back this time.

"Greetings Professor, I am Yasir Belloumi. The formula required should be … … We need to use the Pythagorean Theorem a few times, Sir"

The Teacher nodded. This was the right answer. It had been a very easy question. If the kids failed to answer this correctly, they would have no choice but to go find something else to study. The fact was that there wasn't a single student who didn't have the answer.

Oh, wait.

There was one. Ron Morgensen had absolutely no idea what the students and teacher were now talking about. Pythagorean? How did you even spell that? Theorem? What was that? As for the equation itself, it had been gibberish to his ears. He was frowning hard. As he expected, the level of the teaching here was relatively high. He would have to work a lot.

The teacher was still running the class though: "Good. A real question now. Who can tell me the formula required to calculate the speed of our spaceship?"

This question was easily answered as well. All the students but Ron had the answer. The teacher expected so and smirked as he next the third one: "Well then, who can give me the details on how the propulsor of our space ship should be working under? Also, I would like to know if there are any ways to use it more efficiently"

This time, even after a minute, no one was putting a hand up. The teacher knew this question was harder so, he spoke: "You have pens and papers, why are you still looking blankly at the board? Find the answer"

From there, all the students began to consider the problem under many angles, trying to come up with answers. Thanks to being able to write, they could give themselves a broader perspective on the problem and it was made easier to figure it out.

Ron watched over Ivan and Laila as they furiously scribbled on their papers. Since he didn't have the slightest clue of what was even being asked, he decided to observe those who knew. At the very least, he might grasp something from it. At least, he hoped so. He believed it to be something doable. However, as he began to check what they were writing, he could only give up. There were letters, numbers and symbols jumbled together to the point that he didn't even know where to start. He couldn't even take a guess.