Seven Into Twenty-Three: Notes on What Remains

p. 2

…and so we begin, as every division must, with twenty-three. Divide it by seven and you get three, with two left over. Most mathematicians stop there. The Department of Remainders begins there.

p. 3

p. 4

…which is why we do not throw the two away. Two is what is left when everything else has been neatly accounted for. In the Institute’s experience, it is always the thing left over that causes the trouble.

p. 5

Consider the specimens. There are seven. Divide them among the five departments and each department gets one, with two left over. One of those two is in Jar Sciences. The other is the subject of this paper.

p. 6

We have checked the arithmetic 4,212 times. It does not change. The specimen count does.

p. 7

An aside on page numbers. Readers will notice that this paper runs from page 2 to page 9. The author would like to state, for the record, that she did not remove page 3. She would also like to state that she has not read it.

p. 8

In conclusion: the remainder is real, it is small, and it is not where we left it.

p. 9

Acknowledgements. The author thanks Ms. Ruth Calloway for archiving the leftovers of the first draft, and Prof. Emeritus Quell for coming in. Dr. Demeester contributed page 8, and asks that it be read twice.