At the lobby of the Arithmetic castle, I met Mr Sets, who was standing with his four children — Equivalent Set, who was a great fan of Miss Cardinality; Equal Set, who believed in equality; Overlapping Set, who was sitting on Mr Sets’ lap; and Disjoint Set, who was not friendly at all.

I asked where I would find Mr Unitary Method. Mr Sets told me that I would find him in Room No 1. When I met Mr Unitary Method, I asked him why he lived in Room No 1? He replied that his first and foremost principle was to change everything into one (1). Then I met his two wives — Mrs Direct and Mrs Inverse Variation. Mrs Direct Variation spoke in a fluent way, but it was difficult to understand Mrs Inverse Variation. It was because she spoke in an opposite way!

In the next room I found Miss Percentage reading a newspaper. She had two big empty eyes and a long nose. I understood what the symbol — % — referred to. As she was reading continuously, I thought better not to interrupt her.

I left the room quietly and went to the next room where Profit and Loss lived. These two brothers always argued. I saw Profit crying, while Loss had gone out. When I asked him what was the matter, he replied that Loss had won the bet they had put on a shopkeeper. He complained that though his mother SP, supported him, he always had to suffer the hatred of his father CP, who had helped Loss this time. I consoled Profit and told him that in this world everybody loved him and hated Loss.

Then I met Simple Interest, who was walking on the veranda with interest. He boasted that his value had grown high everywhere. Seeing his proud face, I told him that normal people hated him and even his friend Rate, which has grown too high. However, I remembered my problems when I saw the bills and money exchange that Home Arithmetic showed me. She was homely and taught me to solve bills problems in home.

Finally, I met Mr Mensuration. He had three children — Perimeter, Area and Volume. They all were linked with the Geometry Triangles, Squ-ares, Rectangles, Cubes, Cuboids, Cylinders, Pri-sms and others who belonged to the Geometry Castle. I met all of them and left the castle swearing them that I would come again to visit them.

— Shreya Jha, Class IX, The Imperial Academy