The Housekeeper And The Professor Analysis

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Some people say they are good at literature. Others say they are good at math. Most say they are good at neither, while very few say they are good at both. Yogo Ogawa is one of those very few people; talented in writing thought-provoking novels, while gifted at explaining the essential meaning of math . In her novel The Housekeeper and the Professor, a Professor, whose memory only lasts 80 minutes due to a severe accident, and a Housekeeper, who works for the Professor, develop a unique and profound friendship through the help of mathematics. The motifs of friendship and mathematics weave together in this enchanting novel to make it a must-read for AP students since it dives into the intricate connection between the mathematics, which makes up an important part of our lives, and friendship, which has a completely different type of importance in our life. By examining the recurring mathematics and friendship motifs in the story, it is evident that the motifs show the reader that even the most unique and long-lasting friendships can …show more content…
The Professor finds little mathematical connections between the simplest of things that he and the Housekeeper have, ultimately drawing their lives closer and more profoundly together.
The Professor’s discovery that the numbers that connect the Housekeeper’s birthday with the number on the Professor’s watch are called “‘amicable numbers,’ and they’re extremely rare. Fermat and Descartes were only able to find one pair each. They’re linked to each other by some divine scheme, and how incredible that your birthday and this number on my watch should be just such a pair” (Ogawa 19).
When the Professor goes to a baseball game with the Housekeeper and her son, the Professor and her son sit it seat numbers 714 and 715, respectively. The Professor instantly finds a connection between these two numbers; He says “‘A pair of consecutive whole numbers with these properties is quite rare. There are only 26 such pairs up to 20,000’” (Ogawa
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