Texarkana, AR & TX
7/8/2010
It has been more than a few months since I bore the heat of July to leave the distributive property across the state line. Laurie and I followed our noses down N State Line Avenue with Arkansas on our left and Texas on our right. For a moment I considered kneeling down in the middle of that four-lane road, but I was holding out for something a bit more ceremonial. A few miles down the road and there it was. The US Post Office and Courthouse, with the state line marked straight through the sidewalk, seemed perfect.
If you have ever taken a high school algebra course, then you have seen the distributive property. All it says is multiplication distributes over addition. You can get a feel for the basics by noticing that 2(3 + 5) = 16 just like 2(3) + 2(5).
A couple of people have asked if there is any political statement hidden in this. I am sure if you are willing to play with the word “distribute” and if you know enough about both Texas and Arkansas, then you could come up with something. For me, I just wanted to put an equals sign smack dab on a state line.
Footpath Math: Chalk it up to a math geek 