I bit a teacher because she didn't know what a logarithm was.

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>Anyone read Harry</a> Potter and the Methods of Rationality?</p>

<p>
[quote]
"Oh," said Harry's father, eyes bright, "is that why you bit a math teacher in third year."</p>

<p>"She didn't know what a logarithm was!"</p>

<p>"Of course," seconded Harry's mother. "Biting her was a very mature response to that."</p>

<p>Harry's father nodded. "A well-considered policy for solving the general problem of teachers who don't understand logarithms."</p>

<p>"I was seven years old! How long are you going to keep on bringing that up?"</p>

<p>"I know," said his mother sympathetically, "you bite one math teacher and they never let you forget it, do they?"

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>I’ve read quite a bit of it :p. More interested in Eliezer’s other pursuits, but I was sort of nonplussed when I heard he wrote popular harry potter fan-fic, so I felt compelled to read a bit of it. And at the time I was interested in getting a better idea of who Eliezer was. </p>

<p>But I found it to be some of the most satisfying fiction I had read in a long time. He is quite an effective writer.</p>

<p>The part you’ve quoted is actually the moment when Eliezer decided it would be comedic. And that part was drawn from his life - in his autobiography he recounts asking a teacher what a logarithm was, and that being the first time he felt he knew more than a teacher.</p>

3

<p>I think I read about that guy a long time ago. He never went to high school, right? Sounds like a smart guy if he already has an autobiography.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, he didn’t go to high school and he is extremely smart. The autobiography he wrote when he was 20. It wasn’t published or anything, more like just a story of how he he came to be the 20 year old he turned out to be.</p>