Invincible Iron Man, Vol 1. #3 "Good Morning, Tony"

A.)  “Good Morning Tony” is a short side story within The Invincible Iron Man, Vol 1, issue #33 entitled "The Man in the Box." This comic is written by Matt Fraction and edited by Stephen Wacker. The comic—drawn by Salvador Larroca—depicts a day in the life of Tony Stark. He goes about his daily routine which includes showering, drinking coffee, driving to work, reading e-mails, and getting called off to an Avengers mission. After the mission, the reader reconvenes with Tony in the park. Only a few hours have gone by since Tony first walked into work before taking the Avengers mission. He is eating lunch in the park and attracts a young woman to forget about the stress between himself and his girlfriend, Pepper Potts. Later that night, he lies awake, restless, and the reader is very clued-in to the time (1:45 AM), as they have been for the entire comic. The comic ends with Tony staring himself in the mirror at 5 AM the next morning, as he had when the comic began.

B)               Through-out the comic, the reader is aware of several input/output functions. The inputs and outputs accessed by Tony are overlaid on the panels of the comic through-out Tony’s day. Examples include:

1.)    The temperature of Tony’s coffee when it is brewed at 5:05 AM is 88.4 degrees C. The temperature of the coffee is shown five minutes later (5:10 AM) when Stark is in the shower. The coffee has dropped to 81.8 degrees C. Additionally, the shower is noted as being 39.9 degrees C. In this example, the temperature of Tony Stark’s coffee is the output and the time is the input. As time elapses, the coffee gets gradually colder.

2.)    There is a panel that shows Tony driving to work. The speed for each car in each of three lanes is listed as 58 mph. We know that, traditionally, the right lane usually moves the slowest and the left lane usually moves the fastest. If we were to look at the lanes as inputs and the speed of the car as the output, it is likely that the lane would effect the speed. However, in this example, the speed is held constant, meaning that all outputs are equal to each other, If this were to graphed with three separate lines, each line would overlap the other.

3.)    The final example is a table in one panel that explains Tony’s schedule. This schedule lists time (i.e. 7:30 AM) and an activity (i.e. “RUNDOWN”). In this scenario, the time is the input and the output is the activity. 

C.) Using literature to learn a mathematical concept helps the student to visually and conceptually grasp the concept since utilizing a graphic model will engage both sides of the brain. The left side is used to process the concept at hand. For example, any understanding that I want to gain about the input of time and the output of temperature of Tony Stark’s coffee will be processed on the left side of the brain. Since I now have a visual of Tony stark getting coffee at 5:05 AM (so represented by a graphic of the time and the temperature of Stark’s “Your Stupid” mug—yes, spelled like that…) and a visual of Stark showering with his “Your Stupid” mug that is now slightly colder than it was before, I can use my right brain (spacial and visual intelligence) to help remember and process the information that is better understood in the left side of the brain (the input/output function). This works for any book listed on this blog, as well as any book which teaches or implies a mathematical concept through visuals. The visual is not only easier to understand, but it also helps process the information that is received within the brain.