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by Sidney Kolpas
Mathematics Teacher April 2002
In the movie Stand and Deliver (Warner Brothers 1988), Edward James Olmos,
portraying mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante, confronts Chuco, a defiant
gang member, during Olmos's class at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles:
Escalante: Finger Man. I heard about you. Are you The Finger Man?
I'm the Finger Man, too. Do you know what I can do?
I know how to multiply by nine! Nine times three.
What you got? Twenty-seven. Six times nine.
One, two, three, four, five, six. What you got? Fifty-four.
You wanna hard one? How about eight times nine?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
What do you got? Seventy-two. (Warner Brothers 1988)