Vn89.1 The Ten in Fourteen 9/7-10/77

9/7 After considerable confusion at the beginning of yesterday’s arith-
metic work (Home Session 18, 9/6/77), in a reprise after games of Tic
Tac Toe, I was able to explain ‘carrying’ to Miriam in a manner access-
ible to her. I cited a recent comment of hers while doing mental arith-
metic that “there’s a ten in the number 14.” This point of connection
permitted the only explication of carrying so far that has been able to
compete with Miriam’s “reduction-to-9’s” procedure.

Where did this reference “there’s a 10 in the 14” come from? I
examined recent vignettes and found no reference to it. Since I could
recall no more detail, this morning I put the question to Miriam. I
noted it might have come up the last time we rode to MIT in the Audi
(I vaguely remember a discussion in such a setting about the sum of
170 and 87). Miriam said, “I remember. It was at dinner a day or two
ago. Robby asked how much was 30 and 14, so I said it was 44, ’cause
there was a 10 in the 14; that made it 40, plus 4.”

9/8 Before Miriam went off to school this morning, I asked her if she
could still see the 10 in 14 and the 20 in 27. She apparently under-
stood and said yes. I reminded her that reducing to 9’s was a buggy
procedure for carrying.

9/10 While typing a fair copy of the work in Home Session 14 (July 31),
Gretchen found the reference I sought to Miriam’s explanation of there
being a 10 in 14: Episode I, page 2.

Relevance
These notes mark the reappearance of the idea of being able to see
a 10 in 14. When I, attempting to find the specific reference of
Miriam’s first using the phrase, ask her about it, she reconstructs for
me an incident which seems plausible enough but is probably entirely
a fabrication.

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