It Feels Shorter

Yesterday evening we were driving to my parents’ house, and Cal turned off a different exit from the interstate and announced that he was taking a short cut.  As we took the short cut, Luke said, “You know, it’s not really a short cut because the vectors are the same.” Jacob wasn’t sure whether he agreed with Luke’s assessment and they began drawing diagrams on the van’s windows. Then, Cal said, “Yes, but there are fewer traffic lights.”  To which, Ariel said, “This is an urban economics’ issue that relates to the problem of distance versus time.” Then she said that traffic flow calculations could determine which route was faster. Luke and Jacob didn’t respond because they were too busy arguing over algorithms for curve analysis.  At one point, one of the three said, “But that doesn’t apply to real life.”

During the hullabaloo, Matt leaned forward and said, “I feel sadly left out.”  I told him not to worry, in another year or so he’d take his place in the math discussions. And then it will be only Cal and I who are left out.  Don’t worry about us though, we can always say that the short cut feels faster.