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#basic calculus is actually quite simple if you think of it in terms of macgyver (2016)
appalachianapologies · 9 months
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A question from my math homework except I actually write MacGyver blurbs instead because I'm fucking autistic- (pspspsps gav)
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So far, every time Mac has reached for the thermometer, it hasn’t been with intention to destroy it. The opposite, actually, so Jack should be proud of him for doing so.
This particular thermometer will not meet its untimely demise and find itself in one of Mac’s strange builds. Instead, Mac has been using it for its exact intended purpose. Like every hour for the past six hours before now, Mac puts the probe underneath his tongue and angles the stick so he can just barely make out the numbers. 
He has to cross his eyes a little to manage it, and sure it gives him a slight headache doing so, but it’s for a short enough time that it’s always worth it.
Pen in one hand, Mac starts a timer with his other.
After the first minute has passed, he scratches down the number that the thermometer reads. He waits for the timer to go off for the next minute, and does the same. Repeats the process one more time until the full three minutes have passed.
Mac grimaces when he pulls the thermometer out of his mouth, allowing his tongue to move and roam around his gums to get rid of the feeling that always seems to linger when he has to put the metal tip under his tongue. While he fixes the feeling in his mouth, Mac sketches another small graph on the scratch piece of paper that he’s been using since this morning, comparing it back to the previous ones from other hours.
The Tylenol that Jack’s been incessantly reminding Mac to take has been good, keeping his temperature down. Not enough to be considered healthy, but plenty to avoid having to go to Phoenix Med. Or back to Phoenix Med.
As if Jack’s reading his mind—which at this point Mac would hardy argue with—his phone begins to buzz, Jack’s name and picture taking up the lockscreen. As soon as Mac accepts the call, he puts it on speaker and turns the volume all of the way down. 
“Hi, Jack.” His voice sounds raspier than it ordinarily would, but Mac thinks he’s otherwise doing well.
“Hey kiddo. How’re you feelin’?”
“Good.” Maybe not completely normal, but not as bad as yesterday. “Bored.”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt it. When I’m done here I’ll bring back some knicknacks from the lab to keep you occupied.”
“Or I could just come into the lab myself.”
Mac can practically hear his partner roll his eyes on the other end. “Not so fast. How’s that fever of yours brewin’? You take your temperature anytime recently?”
“Just a minute ago,” Mac reports.
“And?”
“After three minutes, the temperature had a positive first derivative but a negative second derivative.” Could be better. Could be worse, though.
There’s a long pause of silence, before Jack replies, “...I’m not even gonna ask.”
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