Section 3.1 Small Number and the Basketball Tournament
Written by: Veselin Jungic and Mark MacLean Illustrated by: Jean-Paul Csuka![](images/SN3_fam_mod2.png)
Small Number is a young boy who gets into a lot of mischief. He lives in a big city with his mother and his older sister Perfect Number. Twice a week, after school, he goes with his friends to the Aboriginal Friendship Centre.
There the boys first have a snack and then they do mathematics for half an hour. Sometimes they do algebra in their workbooks, but usually they play mathematical games.
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Small Number’s favorite game is “Set.” He enjoys finding patterns faster than anyone else!
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Small Number is the shortest boy in his group, but he is very fast. He tries hard to be as good a player as his best friend Big Circle, who is the biggest boy on the team.
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When Small Number comes home, his mom notices that he is quieter than usual. “What happened?” she asks. After listening to Small Number’s explanation, mom smiles: “Good? Tall? Fast? And a good shooter? I think we both know a person like that!”
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She looks at Small Number’s sister Perfect Number, who is just finishing her math homework.
“I love you, mom!” yells Small Number and he hugs his mom tightly. Perfect Number looks at them, very puzzled.
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Big Circle scratches his head and says: “How can you calculate things like that? And, since I’m the best player, I have to play all the time!”
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Question: How does Small Number know that if Perfect Number were to play with him and his friends, they would be able to have twenty different teams on the court during the tournament?
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