- Many of us have been asked to find X.
But for something to be found,
it must first have been lost.
(gentle music)
On the number line, life was well defined.
(rocket engine roaring)
With prized fields and blue skies,
things were pretty organized.
Until one non-ordinary day
when all patterns went astray.
This is the story of X
who was born, to shock and surprise,
with an equation too tough to analyze.
X's parents were 40 and 42.
But after 41 came between them,
40 had moved on with someone new.
(door shuts)
(bus engine whirring) (numbers chattering)
Growing up, X's life felt far from optimal,
since without a value, how can one be valuable?
One day,
a school trip to the function fair turned to despair
when X was told,
"You must have this value to ride,"
and was sent instead to the minimal slide.
That night at the times table,
relational emotions were unstable.
X blamed 42 for their missing value.
42 snapped back, "It isn't all about you.
If only you were numeric, that would simplify my life too.
I'm tired of this pointless search for your value."
X slammed their door and began to cry.
42 cooled off, knocked,
(door thuds)
but no reply.
"X, I'm sorry for what I said to you.
I was out of order. It wasn't true.
Please know that I value you."
But already outside, eyes blurred by misery,
X had not heard 42's apology.
Untying their old boat, cold and scared,
X hadn't realized that their pain was shared.
Every night, 42 worked on finding X,
even when the math became complex.
42 worked with increased ferocity.
Their working was an absolute monstrosity,
they'd even found a fictional velocity.
X sailed out far into the ocean,
battling the elements and their emotions,
when a sinusoidal storm
rose with an unbalanced force,
sending the boat and X curving off-course.
Spotting an island, X gave a shout,
before the boom swung around and knocked X out.
(water gently splashing)
(seagulls chirping)
Washed up on the beach, X barely survived,
but was discovered by a group of Is.
(volcano erupts)
Part of an ancient numerical civilization
who had an archaic system of classification.
X woke to an Emperor's voice
who peered down giving X no choice.
"This one will be useful later.
I declare them a 10, a gladiator."
Then, M leaned down with a menacing demeanor and said,
"You can prove your value in the arena."
(intense music) (crowd cheering)
(swords clanking)
X thought maybe they'd found a way to belong
with this group of 10s so big and strong.
But something felt so terribly wrong.
Everyone expected X to fight.
Swords drawn, the crowd roared with delight.
(crowd cheering)
When two angles of radiant light
flew through X's line of sight,
their movement inspired X to try,
folding up into an I.
This way, X escaped from the jail house,
grateful for all the practice of trying to be someone else.
(ominous music) (Is grunting)
(X panting)
Then down the shaft of an old mine,
X fell to the axis line.
Lost in a dark and dingy nook,
X discovered an ancient book.
It spanned all of mathematics
from algebra to geometry to quadratics.
X was shocked to see on almost every page
that their name was center stage.
Blinking, bewildered, it made no sense.
X flipped to the back with suspense
where the answers should be listed, but nothing there.
No answers existed.
(walls rumbling)
The walls around X then congruently shifted
glowing beads on an abacus drifted
to reveal a bright and welcoming direction.
"Much better than here," X thought on reflection.
(bright music)
X was on cloud nine.
This place was divine.
It was hard to define,
but unlike anything else on the number line.
There were strange symbols X had never seen before.
It wasn't clear what they even stood for.
One said, "Hello, X. Come through.
I'm Y. It's nice to meet you.
Welcome to the Origin, the place where number lines begin."
Y was the first unknown X had talked to,
so X asked, "Do you know your value?"
Y nodded, replying, "And so shall you.
Let me change your point of view."
Y led X on a tour of math that was wonderfully obscure.
Then Y said,
"Knowing your value can be an irrational endeavor.
Pi knows theirs but will be chasing it forever.
You must come to grips with the fact
math is not about your value.
Math is about relationships.
(majestic music)
You and I can form a line,
a circle,
or an ellipse.
We're like magicians with transformative tricks.
And with that, the whole grid is at our fingertips."
Seeing that it's okay to be unknown,
X said, "Let's solve this problem of getting me home."
On X's return, 42 was overjoyed,
saying, "Life without you felt like 0: a complete void."
X felt a healing deep in their heart
at this reunion of broken parts.
42 invited X into their exclusive space,
where there was a briefcase
full of equations and formulae half erased.
42 proved to X that they'd always been working,
never given up hope, never stopped searching.
X and 42 embraced, X happily crying
to see how hard 42 had been trying.
Before the papers could cause any more pain,
X threw them out into a new domain.
An answer was no longer needed,
and as the tears receded, X said,
"To blame you, 42, was wrong.
I found my value.
It was here all along."
(warm music)
(water flowing)
(papers rustling)