If you've got a (math) problem, yo, (Insert Character Here)'ll solve it! No, it's not readerXmultiplication or anything, but character you ask for can teach you about anything up to basic intergral calculus AKA I need to study, but I also wanna stay interested in the work I do, so here we are
I'm Ray, amateur author and student of physics and mathematics. Have you ever struggled to do math and thought, "wow, I bet [a character] could explain this better than my teacher"? Well, now they can! This blog has two purposes:
Explanations of math concepts from your favorite characters
I study math concepts by explaining them to someone else, which is shown to actually be an effective way of gauging someones understanding of a topic
I'm studying integral calculus right now, so anything up to that point in most math subjects, I can write about. As I learn more, I'll update this post to encompass more subjects. The explanations will most likely be mainly text based with the exception of diagrams for the problems, but I might add images or drawings if I have time for some stories. I will write some stories based on my own interests and favorite characters, but I could definitely attempt to write for most fandoms! Additionally, if you'd rather not have math explained to you as the reader, I can also have a character explain the math concept to another canon character. All you need do is ask for it. Of course, I have final say on what I write, and I cannot guarantee I will write something for every ask.
Well, that's all, folks! Ask away! If you see and like my art or writing, but would rather not interact with me via math, that's okay too! My main is @rayayraphael.
Okay I'm really gonna do something this time I promise, so what would you like?
Do another Black Doom one
Calculus Torment Gauntlet feat. Doctor Who
Integration Strategy Pokemon Cards
Something else??? (Let me know!)
Voting ended onMar 6, 2025
For anyone new seeing this, I write reader insert fics where a fictional character teaches you math (or other characters related explanations, not just fics). This is not necessarily written romantically, but it's up to you how you want to interpret it. I do have plans for all of these, I just need to make them. Just let me know which ones you want to see first and I will put them out. Or! If you have non-calculus related topics you want to see, let me know!
Update, as of now it seems to be a tie, so the Pokemon cards will come out as I make them and one of the two stories will (hopefully) come out in a week or two as long as I can keep the motivation up. Send your favorite Pokemon in if you want a card of them!
Okay I'm really gonna do something this time I promise, so what would you like?
Do another Black Doom one
Calculus Torment Gauntlet feat. Doctor Who
Integration Strategy Pokemon Cards
Something else??? (Let me know!)
Voting ended onMar 6, 2025
For anyone new seeing this, I write reader insert fics where a fictional character teaches you math (or other characters related explanations, not just fics). This is not necessarily written romantically, but it's up to you how you want to interpret it. I do have plans for all of these, I just need to make them. Just let me know which ones you want to see first and I will put them out. Or! If you have non-calculus related topics you want to see, let me know!
I know the world desperately awaits my next banger after "Black Doom Teaches You Integration by Parts". Well, I am pleased to inform you all that I have next week off and promise you another similarly lengthed story. OR LONGER! Once again, any character or any (math) concept, send me an ask!
Why the hell did I write "We're pissing on the integral with our super laser piss"? That's the funniest thing I've written in years and it's wasted on calculus. Laughing my ass off in the dining hall. Cursed myself forever to remember that every time I think of partial fractions.
I agree Shadow I should have passed that one by now but what can you do đ€· anywho avoid this one if you don't want shadow being snarky at you for not knowing advanced mathematical concepts (not a reasonable thing to be annoyed about but it's Shadow the Hedgehog so he's got a lot going on rn. Like Black Doom kidnapping people and teaching them integration by parts)
Black Doom Shows You How to Do Integration by Substitution
Gender Neutral Reader, Black Doom & Reader or Black Doom/Reader, up to interpretation
Being in space, you would have assumed that you wouldnât have to worry about things like math and calculus. It wasnât like you assumed it wouldnât be involved in space travel, but you assumed that you wouldnât have to deal with it with this exact space trip, considering you were abducted by aliens and all. Youâd assumed that you were going to be eaten, like everyone else whoâd been captured. Yet you and a very small number of others hadnât yet and were instead being put through a number of tests. A few were physical in some way, but most had tested your intelligence. You couldnât help but feel like a rat in a maze, being tested on how fast we could change our behavior after being electrocuted. Were these aliens, the Black Arms as you now knew they were called, studying you? If they were, then what for?
This specific test was a test of your ability to do calculations. Vaguely you thought back on that comic that was rather popular a while ago, about someone being forced to do algebraic equations to get into heaven, and couldnât help but feel that this was something like that. The first few questions werenât too hard for you, youâd never been bad at math. But when you got into the calculus section, you started to get nervous. Youâd only learned so much calculus before youâd been, well, abducted by aliens. And one part in particular always go to you. Integrals in general just hadnât clicked with you yet. You knew how to do it, but you couldnât always do it right. It didnât help that the massive ruler of the Black Arms, Black Doom, was watching everyone testing. You were sure it couldnât be, but it was almost like he was watching you more than the others.
The next question was about just one of these. Of course it was. It asked what the indefinite integral was of the cube root of seven minus tangent t, all multiplied by secant squared of t. Nothing seemed to be going your way. Why did they even to know if you could do integrals anyway? Surely, they were just going to eat you in the end anyway! Why did they need you to work alone too? Wouldnât this test be just as effective if you could all work together? You tried to solve the problem anyway, if you only could get a little helpâŠ
The floating Black Doom started to move through the space, and to your horror, he came towards you! Had you displeased him in some way? You were quite certain this was when you would be eaten, when he said in his low voice, âYou struggle. Why do you persist?â
You glanced around, hoping there would be someone else nearby to respond, but no one did, so you answered nervously, âI donât know how to do this bit. I hadnât learned it in class yet. I think I can get it though, if someoneâŠâ You paused for a moment, considering whether or not this was a test too. Should you say it? Was that against the rules? No one else spoke, and some others clearly struggled too.
He seemed to read your mind as he let out a low laugh. âIt is no shame to require assistance,â he said, âThe Black Arms are a hive mind, there is a constant cooperation and collaboration between us. Iâve not seen one of your kind request assistance, not in a non-life threating situation. It takes intelligence to be capable of learning and wisdom to be willing to ask questions. Certainly, you are a promising candidate. Come with me, I will show you how to solve problems such as these.â
âŠwhat? Black Doom, ruler of the Black Arms, probably a demi-god, destroyer of worlds, was offering to teach you how to do calculus? Called you intelligent and wise? This couldnât be real. Shakely, you stood and followed the towering alien out of the room. You still werenât sure you werenât going to be eaten, but you followed obediently. And how did he know what you were going to ask for help? Could he read your mind?
âYes,â he said, though you hadnât spoken a word. You walked with him down a long corridor now. âWeâve partially attuned you and your fellows to the hive mind. You cannot connect to it, but we can examine your thought processes through it. We use it to determine how well you complete the tests to reveal which of you are most suitable.â
âHow are you able to do that?â you asked, knowing thereâs no point in leaving it unsaid now. You tried not to think about what âsuitableâ referred to.
âItâs in your food. A psychokinetically active additive makes your small minds more open to us. We need you all alive for now, so you must eat to live.â
âSo, itâs like the radioactive compounds in PET scans, but to see our thoughts instead of our brains?â
He glanced at you, giving a judgmental gaze. âThey do not have those in the rest of the civilized universe. Most do not put radioactive compounds in their bodies willingly.â
âOh.â You walked in silence down the long corridor, until you followed him into an antechamber with a giant tablelike structure in the center.
âI will show you how to complete problems like these,â he declared, moving to one side of the table and indicating that you should join him by scaling a massive seat that seemed more like a monolith than a chair. You managed, with a reasonable amount of effort to climb on top of it. âGood,â he said as you gazed up at him, âYou struggled with this.â You nodded as he indicated the problem in question.
âIt simply a matter of substitution,â he said, using a massive claw to etch the problem on the table.
âYou must simply replace one part of the integral with a separate variable, making it easier to integrate.âYou werenât quite sure you knew what he meant, but you nodded along as he etched a separate variable, u, into the table.
He continued. âIt would be more difficult to integrate the cube root of 7 tangent t than of a single variable, such as u. To integrate with respect to u, you must also transform dt to du.â He then wrote a derivative equation:
âWhy would we take the derivative of u?â, you asked, confused at the seemingly irrelevant step.
âHave patience,â Black Doom snapped, then continued, âIf youâd not interrupted, I would have been able to inform you that the derivative of u is taken to isolate du and dt, and their equivalent portions of the equations.â As he took the derivative of 7 minus 7 tangent t, it made more sense; the majority of the derivative was the factor outside of the radical.
âMultiplying both sides by dt isolates du and dt, making it possible to replace secant squared t and dt with an equivalent expression in that makes the integral possible to integrate in terms of u rather than t.â
When he lay it out before you, it seemed far simpler than you thought it would be. âSo, you can take a simpler integral rather than a more complicated one by replacing parts of it with equivalent and simpler variables?â
âCorrect,â If Black Doom had a mouth, you could have sworn smiled at you. âYour speciesâ capacity to learn so rapidly is something we valued in you. If I were to name a positive characteristic in your inferior species, it would be that.â
You gave a weak smile in response, somewhat concerned by his phrasing. You watched him write the edited integral.
This integral was far more reasonable to deal with, a simple matter really. You etched the integrated solution on the table in your smaller hand writing with your writing utensil, something between a pencil and marker.
Black Doom nodded approvingly. âThere is but one more step,â he said, âto replace u with what it was originally substituted for.â
âThatâs the solution then?â you confirmed.
âIndeed,â he replied. âYou are certainly a most suitable candidate. Very adaptable and obedient. I shall keep you in mind for later. Now return to your fellows. Do not bother with completing more of this test, your progress has been deemed satisfactory.â
You nodded and rushed towards the exit, then paused for a moment. âThank you,â you said, trying not to make your voice shake.
Black Doom looked at you curiously for a moment, after which he said, âAs you should. Now begone!â
As you turned and returned to the first chamber you were in, you gave the test youâd completed in a pile of other completed tests and returned to a group of your fellow abductees.
âOh my chaos!â one gasped as you returned, âYouâre alive! We thought for sure you got eaten!â
You shook your head. âNo,â you said, âActually, Black Doom explained calculus to me.â
âYouâre clowning? Youâre not clowning? I sense clowns.â
âNo, Iâm serious.â You turned away. âI think thereâs something more going on here, though,â you whispered, âIâve told you before I think theyâre studying us, right?â
The others nodded, and some of the Black Arms nearby almost imperceptibly tensed, shifting.
You glanced around, âI think these tests are for more than just study,â you said softly, âI think thereâs a bigger goal here. Weâre candidates for something. These are just the preliminary tests to determine which of us is best for the real experiment.â
The rest of the group recoiled. âSurely not?â one chuckled nervously. âI mean, the aliens wouldnât have told you their real plan, right?â
You opened your mouth to double down, but one of the Black Arms jerked their head and reached for a phaser at the edge of your vision. âYouâre probably right,â you said, keeping your eye on the alien, âjust a theory.â
The group visibly relaxed and so did the surrounding Black Arms. You didnât though. What had happened still didnât feel real to you. But as much as you knew something else was going on, you pushed it to the back of your mind, in a place you hoped the Black Arms couldnât find.
***
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed and/or learned some calculus from this! Again, if you have any character requests for any fandom or any math topic, just ask. I feel completely deranged for writing this, but I sure did review that topic! I think the plot's not terrible either. Until next time!
Everyone be prepared. The first one of these is going to be incredibly dumb in premise, but you knew that, because I'm writing xreader fics for integral calculus.
