Life Debts, Evil Fudge, and 11-Year-Old Math

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 35684

At 1:19 AM +0000 2/23/02, judyserenity wrote:
>
>Cindy signed off:
>>  Cindy (wondering how Crouch Jr. is able to kill his father when his
>>  father sprung him from Azkaban, which ought to create at least a
>>  mini-Life Debt)
>
>Yeah, not to mention, Crouch Sr. sprung Crouch Jr. from his loins (You
>can tell that I've been reading the Bible a lot lately.)  You'd think
>that would create a *big* life debt.

In both cases, wouldn't the primary life debt be between Crouch Jr. 
and his _mother_, not his father?  She was the engineer of Jr.'s 
escape - it was obviously her idea and her will that drove it.  And 
she's the one who screamed in labor for 24 hours straight (or however 
long it was, with the state of wizarding medicine and all) to give 
life to him.  Crouch Sr.'s part in both cases was necessary but 
minimal.

So perhaps Crouch Jr. owed the life-debt to his mother - but she's 
dead now, so he's either free or (more likely, given Snape's reaction 
to his life-debt to James) in limbo, unable to pay the debt at all. 
Perhaps that's one reason his mental state seems so, um, rumpled.


At 3:32 PM +0800 2/23/02, Rhea Summers wrote:
>At first, I am convinced that Fudge is a simpering cow who is scared of
>trouble and ultimately, LV's revenge if the Dark Lord ever rises again.
>After reading the discussion about Fudge a few days ago, I'm now sure that
>Fudge is Evil. I want to join the camp. =)

Can I join the camp if I think Fudge is Evil but not a Death Eater or 
in any way associated with Voldemort?  I think he's an _entirely 
seperate_ Evil . . .   (I also think Ludo Bagman is Evil and in 
Fudge's camp rather than Voldemort's . . .)


At 1:11 PM +0000 2/23/02, rollerramla wrote:
>This is a question I've had for a very long time; in fact, from the
>moment I started the books I wondered this. If the students enter
>Hogwarts when they are 11 years old, then does that mean that they
>stop learning math at a 5th grade (or the British equivalent) level? If
>so, it seems that the students graduate having only learned simple
>arithmetic! Any theories? I'd love to hear them. :)

They don't exactly stop learning math - but they do seem to stop 
learning pure mathematics (with one possible exception, which I'll 
get to in a minute); everything after that is applied.

I doubt that they can get through Astronomy without a good grasp of 
mesurements, angles, and the fundamentals of geometry (and possibly a 
little basic trigonometry); they get more of that when they're 
creating astrological charts in Divination.  (That Harry and Ron 
cheat on their charts suggests to me that perhaps a little more 
direct geometric instruction might not be a bad idea.)  Potions 
definately deals with ratios and proportions - one part eye of newt 
to three parts toe of frog, and if we're making a double batch that 
works out to what?  I suspect that some of the same occurs in 
Herbology, for mixes of fertilizers and the like.  There's a bit of 
algebra in advanced Charms, if they deal at all in the velocity and 
acceleration of leviosa'd, accio'ed, and banished objects.  But it's 
all in context; I doubt most wizards see much use in mathematics as a 
subject unto itself.

The probably exception is, of course, Arithmancy.  Technically, the 
name refers to something like gematria or numerology - using the 
numerical values of names and words to make predicitons or find their 
uses.  If that's all it is, then it only requires arithmetic, 
although it requires that one be good at it.  However, I'd prefer for 
it to turn out to be something more like general mathemagic - which 
would definately include geometry (all those mystic symbols require 
it), and probably trig and basic algebra as well.  Perhaps for those 
who study it into their sixth and seventh years, they even broach the 
Moste Potente Mathemagikke of the calculus - certainly many Muggles 
see it as purely magical . . .  :)  The fact that it seems to require 
charts, as we see Hermione working her homework in PoA, suggests to 
me that there are at least logs or trig functions involved.  The name 
of the Professor - Vector - also implies at least some Cartesian 
algebra.



-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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