And yet, in my childhood, there was nothing to indicate anything exceptional except possibly in the negative. I was quiet, reserved, inclined to sudden outbursts of temper; in general, I was a danger to those around me. I was capable of silent brooding, for instance, because I wanted to understand why six times five came to the same thing as five times six. It even seemed to be a general principle, so eleven by fourteen was the same as fourteen by eleven. Why? There was a law hidden in the numbers that I could not wrap my head around until I pictured a rectangle with rows of six pieces by five
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