eurekapd Chapter 142 Open Class
Chapter 142 Open Class
After discussing with Wen Yuxia, the Emperor decided that the first lesson would be taught by Steward Tang from the Princess's residence. The lesson would be held at the Meridian Gate Square, and it would be an open and free class that anyone interested could attend.
To attract more people to her lectures, Wen Yuxia even prepared a lot of snacks at her own expense, intending to give them to every listener who left after the get out of class.
Minister of Rites Gu Yue dispatched all his subordinates to spread the word throughout the capital for three whole days, ensuring that all the people of the capital knew that there would be a public lecture at the Meridian Gate Square in three days, and that those who attended the lecture could receive a bag of small cakes.
On the day of the open class, the Emperor, Empress, Xia Yichen, and ministers such as Gu Yue and Minister Tang all came, and the three rows of seats on the high platform were full.
Many court officials continued to ascend the steps to the high platform, so Wen Yuxia had to add more seats. Afterward, she had people stand guard at the steps with wooden signs that read, "Fully booked, please stop here."
Facing the sea of people below the stage and the Emperor and his ministers before him, Butler Tang's lips moved silently a few times, his whole body trembling.
Wen Yuxia encouraged, "Don't be afraid. Treat the audience below the stage as servants in the mansion, and use the same intensity you use when scolding them..."
The steward, Tang, mustered his courage and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He said pitifully, "Princess, this old servant cannot do it."
Wen Yuxia covered her forehead. Sigh, Butler Tang is so useless. She lost her voice when it was time to give a lecture. Oh well, she'll have to do it herself!
After taking the veil out of her handbag and putting it on, Wen Yuxia calmly got up and walked towards Butler Tang, saying in a low voice, "You can go now, I'll talk to you!"
Clearing her throat with two light coughs, Wen Yuxia channeled her inner energy to project her voice throughout the Meridian Gate Square, "Quiet down, quiet down, please keep quiet during the lecture."
Picking up a charcoal pencil, she walked towards a large wooden board covered with rice paper. This was a teaching board that Wen Yuxia had spontaneously created.
"1, 2, 3, 100..." Wen Yuxia wrote and recited, patiently explaining various techniques for memorizing Arabic numerals, from 1 to 100, from 100 to 1000, from 1000 to 10,000.
"Next, I'll explain the uppercase Arabic numerals, one, two...ten. Next, I'll teach you the multiplication table," Wen Yuxia's voice resounded throughout the square.
"One times one equals one, one times two equals two, one times three equals three... nine times nine equals eighty-one," Wen Yuxia led the class in reading it once, then pointed to the teaching board and let the audience read it themselves.
On the stage, the emperor and his ministers were also captivated by Arabic numerals, memorizing them diligently, whether in uppercase or lowercase.
As soon as Wen Yuxia began reciting the multiplication table, the Emperor excitedly grabbed the Empress sitting beside him and exclaimed, "Our ancestor has appeared! Quickly, quickly pay your respects!"
The Empress quickly pulled him back and whispered, "It's not the Old Ancestor, it's Mu Hua giving a lecture. Your Majesty, look how attentively everyone is listening!"
The Emperor's face flushed slightly. "Listen, listen!" He had seen the multiplication table before in a manual passed down from his ancestors, but it was incomplete, containing only a few mnemonic phrases.
When Wen Yuxia started reciting the formula for the algorithm table, he lost his composure, thinking it was the ancestor appearing to him. Fortunately, the Empress stopped him in time, otherwise, if this bowing continued, neither he nor Wen Yuxia would know how to end the situation.
"Now it's time for questions. Please raise your right hand if you have a question. Whoever I call on can ask their question," Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile.
The lecture lasted for more than two hours. After finally finishing her prepared material, Wen Yuxia calmly sat in her chair, waiting for questions from the audience.
Most of the people who raised their hands were students in school uniforms. Wen Yuxia randomly pointed to a student who had raised their hand and said, "You come up."
The student whose name was called blushed with excitement. "Hello, sir! May I ask you a math problem?"
“Okay,” Wen Yuxia said calmly.
One hundred buns are to be distributed among one hundred people. One bun is given to each adult, and one bun is given to three children. How many adults and children are there if all the buns are distributed in one go?
Wen Yuxia got up, walked to the teaching board, picked up her charcoal pencil, and started working on the problem. Actually, the problem was very simple; she didn't need to write anything. She already knew the answer after hearing the question.
"One adult per group, three children per group. So let's assume we group one adult with three children together... 25 adults, 75 children, that's exactly 100 people."
温玉霞给列出了1+3=4与100÷4=25的计算公式，让台上的朝臣与台下的学子们都恍然大悟，
Once you know Arabic numerals and have memorized the multiplication table, solving problems becomes really easy.
With a whoosh, audience members raised their right hands before Wen Yuxia could even speak. Wen Yuxia continued to call on people and ask questions, and an hour passed in a series of questions and answers.
The audience members had no intention of leaving the square; they were excitedly discussing what kind of questions they could ask to stump Wen Yuxia.
On the stage, Xia Yichen could no longer remain seated. He raised his right hand and chuckled, "Mu Hua, I have a question to ask you."
"Crown Prince, please," Wen Yuxia stood up and gestured for him to proceed.
A table costs 10 times more than a chair, and the table costs 28 taels and 8 qian more than the chair. How much is a table and a chair worth?
Wen Yuxia wrote the calculation method and answer on the teaching board, and then began to explain: "First, let the price of the chair be x. The price of the table is 10 times that of the chair, so the price of the table is 10x... 10x - x = 9x, 9x = 28 taels and 8 qian more than the chair... The answer is 3 taels and 2 qian of silver."
Xia Yichen knew the answer. He was very surprised to see Wen Yuxia write "3 taels and 2 mace of silver" on the teaching board. It had taken him two days to solve the problem, while Wen Yuxia had gone through the entire process, from hearing the question to solving it and then explaining it to everyone, in less than fifteen minutes.
The audience showed great interest in the substitute word "x," and many shifted their questions from calculation problems to the uses of the substitute word in mathematics.
Wen Yuxia didn't hold back; she took this opportunity to explain the four letters x, y, z, and h—frequently used in calculation problems—to them.
The Emperor looked up at the sky, beckoned to Eunuch Zhang, and said in a low voice, "get out of class is over."
Eunuch Zhang replied in a low voice, "Yes, Your Majesty, this old servant will go and make the arrangements immediately!"
Cookies were given out after class. The Emperor, worried that the servants at Wen Yuxia's residence wouldn't be able to keep up, instructed Eunuch Zhang to lead palace eunuchs and maids to wait at the various cookie distribution points.
Zhang Gonggong lightly touched the ground with his toes, using the shoulders of the audience members below as leverage to leap outwards, shouting in a shrill voice, "get out of class is over, get out of class is over! Please collect your snacks from the nearest available spot."