Ms. V's Grade 10 English Class 2007

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Reference Guide

The following topics will be covered by Ms. Vincent's Grade 10 English class over the next few weeks. The reference guide will help you to navigate the many mathematical, scientific, literary and pop culture references in Mark Haddon's novel. Stay tuned for your classmate's contributions to our HTS blog!
Check out Ms. V's website at http://www2.hts.on.ca/senior/dvincent/ENG2D/course_index.htm

Example for students: Christopher Boone, the fifteen year old autistic narrator and protagonist likes prime numbers. Christopher has Asperger's Syndrome and is a mathematical savant, and for him, "prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them." A prime number, of course, is a number that is divisible only by two integers-itself and one. Thus, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 and so on are prime numbers, while 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, etc. are not. For example, if we list the factors of 28, we have 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, and 28. That's six factors. If we list the factors of 29, we only have 1 and 29. That's two factors. So we say that 29 is a prime number, but 28 isn't. Note that the definition of a prime number doesn't allow 1 to be a prime number: 1 only has one factor, namely 1. Prime numbers have exactly two factors, not "at most two" or anything like that. When a number has more than two factors it is called a composite number. How does this connect to Christopher? Christopher makes a connection with prime numbers because they are logical, have a definite answer, and two factors. There is a finite solution with nothing more, nothing less. See pg. 61 of Curious for explanation.




10.Marilyn vos Savant and Ask Marilyn pg. 62

11.Dune, Blake 7 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind pg. 69 (Dean P, March 30th,2008)

12. The Hound of the Baskervilles pg. 69 (Alex S: March 30th, 2008)

13. Red Herrings pg. 71 (Ronald S: March 30th, 2008)

14. The Masqueraders pg. 77 (Jake K: April 3rd, 2008)

15. The Case of the Cottingley fairies pg. 88 (Anisha M, April 3rd, 2008)

16. Doctor Who pg. 89 (Anthony S: April 3rd, 2008)

17. Occam’s Razor.pg. 90 (Cassie M: April 3rd, 2008)

18. Chaos by James Gleick pg. 96 (Tom F, April 5th, 2008)

19. Star Trek: The Next Generation pg. 118 (Michael G: April 5th, 2008)

20. Orion, Lepus, Taurus and Gemini pg. 125 (Stefano C, April 5th, 2008)

21 Red Dwarfs pg 126 (Sabah K: April 11th, 2008)

22 Inverse Proportion pg. 136 (Rasika S: April 11th, 2008)

23. Conway’s Soldiers pg. 146 (Veronica T, April 11th, 2008

24. Three Conditions for Life on Earth pg. 164 (Jessica L: April 11th, 2008

25. Blade Runner pg. 198 (Carolyn R, April 11th)
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