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When he finishes his current mathematical problem, though, the Professor relaxes and becomes friendlier. As we learn her story - single mom, only child of another single mom - it’s unfortunate she had to drop out to start working full-time before finishing high school.
At first, the prime numbers are frequent, but "When you get to much bigger numbers - a million or 10 million - you're venturing into a wasteland where the primes are terribly far apart [. Despite the efforts of the housekeeper and her son, the professor's capacity for joy seems literally limited. The Professor was right: my birthday and his watch had overcome great trials and tribulations to meet each other in the vast sea of numbers.But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight. The Professor says that G-D made numbers before people, and the proofs were always there waiting to be discovered.
A poignant and touching story about a very special housekeeper with qualities of empathy, gentleness and kindness without which this would be a very different story.The Professor on the other hand, may be pitiable to some, like his sister-in-law, and he does suffer, often intensely. I confess that I was looking for ragged edges by the end- looking to find fault with her for not keeping to her 80 minutes, looking for some outbursts or ill-chosen words. This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water. The Professor tells Root, "The square root sign is a generous symbol, it gives shelter to all the numbers.