“I don't know if we can use algebra that way, but, I'm not an economist.”
Ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow was experimenting with basic algebra some years ahead of when it was expected after overhearing that business people like his grandfather and his Trent friends' grandfather both used it to determine how they would price their products. This meant he was dabbling in managerial accounting, but he knew his limits (somewhat, given that he was ten and dabbling into business math).
Andrew also knew that his little siblings were following along and reaching their own conclusions. Lil' Robert his five-year-old baby brother was out teaching next door neighbor nine-year-old Milton that they were the same age as and therefore really the twins of their grandparents, with some algebra added on.
“But it's true, though!” Lil' Robert said because he had the nerve to argue after Milton's eleven-year-old sister Velma came out to try to clear up why Milton had been laughed clear out of his house. “The only difference between big numbers and small numbers is just whatever X is!”
“But, Robert and Milton, can't y'all see that you can't use numbers like that when applied to real things?Y'all have no facial hair, no gray hair, and no height!”
Lil' Robert and Milton looked at each other.
“So?” they both said.
“Are y'all real people, or can we count you out on three fingers?” Velma said.
“Don't you count me out!” Lil' Robert said.
“Me either!” Milton said.
“So then you can't count our grandparents and their years of age out like that – you can't do year numbers like that!” Velma said. “It's the year 2020! Pop-Pop was born in 1954, and Capt. Ludlow was born in 1962! That's why they're older than y'all born in 2011 and 2015 – there's subtraction up in there!”
“Oh,” Lil' Robert said.
“So you're saying we need calculus for this, huh?” Milton said.
“I'm saying, learn about the calendar and years already!” Velma said, and big-sistered both of them into sitting down and learning it from her on the spot.
Meanwhile, Andrew was dealing with little sister eight-year-old Edwina, learning algebra and graphing over his shoulder.
“So, we just gotta look at where the numbers meet?” she said.
“Well, we get to choose how we set up our numbers – so if we know we can make each bottle of soda between $2 and $5, and we want to look at how much profit we would make at different price levels, we can make the cost of each bottle go this way and the price go up and down. It's kind of like using the times tables, except you get to draw points to see where the lines meet, and then draw lines that connect the points that work so you can see what is going on.”
“So where do the Xs and Ys come in?” Edwina said.
“Well, let's say we don't know one of these and we need to figure it out – like, we know we can make soda in glass bottles for $3 which is what we actually do because we don't do plastic, but we don't know what price we have to put on to make $2 in profit. We know that the number is somewhere out here on the graph, though, so that's where that the X comes in. X minus 3 equals 2, so then we just gotta solve for X. But let's say we had $5 and we didn't know how we got it – so then, X plus Y equals 5, and at least we can get some points because X and Y can be where 0 meets 5, 1 meets 4, 2 meets 3, 3 meets 2, 4 meets 1, and 5 meets 0.”
“You know what else this means?” Edwina said. “We can get into the real business of business now!”
“Yep, because you never need to not know what you can make and what you have to do to get it,” Andrew said.
“That too, but I mean the real business so we start making the real money!” Edwina said. “This is how people get ahead in the economy!”
“Really?” Andrew said.
“We can find the price levels that will make the people who aren't good customers go away – we can X out the people that don't want to pay and are always leaving bad reviews, and Y? Because we don't like them!”
“Uh, I guess,” Andrew said as he looked back at his graph. “I mean, if we had information about where soda would be expensive enough to get rid of complainers and still be bought by enough people to keep the Ludlow Bubbly alive – there's probably a point for that, but … .”
“And another thing!” Edwina said. “We also need to X out the truckers who keep driving our stuff into Lake Esmeralda – the economy will be better off with them getting another job – and Y? Because we don't like them either!”
Andrew thought about this, and then sighed.
“I don't know if we can use algebra that way, but, I'm not an economist.”
“Where there's a will, there's a way!” Edwina said.
“Yeah, but there's also a use and a misuse,” Andrew said. “Math can only go so far, Eddie. There's what algebra can do, and then there's what Papa can do with that big deep voice and a phone call.”
“Well, yeah, you got a point that isn't on a line on a page right there,” Edwina said.
“Exactly,” Andrew said. “We can figure out stuff for the economy on paper, but at some point, it's people that gotta live and work in it. I'm not an economist, but I am a person, so I know that. I also know that algebra is only going to save the next set of truckers who drive our soda into Lake Esmeralda if they can figure out where the money in their bank account meets a plane ticket to anywhere but here as fast as possible.”
“They could just run for the plane and hang on to a wing to save money,” Edwina said.
Andrew considered this.
“Look, we don't like them, but we still don't want them to have their grip slip at 30,000 feet and them just be yelling terrified all the way to the ground,” he said.
“Well, yeah,” Edwina said. “Not today, anyway – it's too nice out for all that yelling.”