Swimming Letters

Prompts = Askance, Avalanche, Aardvark

Put the three words on the board in alphabetical order, her teacher said. Askance, Avalanche, Aardvark. The letters swam, making no sense. But maybe…

Assign number values to the letters. Arrange the numbers in order. Substitute the letters back in. Easy.

‘Teacher?’

‘Yes Mackenzie?’

‘I’m done!’

‘That’s good.’

‘Did you know there are three factorial, or six, ways to arrange these three words?’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘I can calculate the numbers of ways to arrange the letters in each word.’

‘That’s quite advanced maths.’

‘It’s my hobby.’

Years later, Mackenzie Simmons won the Fields Medal for contributions to Neurolinguistic Mathematics.

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