Act I : The Introduction

The play opens with Wiz Kid and his students flying toward Planet Calculus in the Wiz Kid Galaxy. The students have been marveling at the sights when suddenly they seem to be caught up in some turbulent gravitational field. The spaceship starts to rock violently and the students start to become frightened. Wiz Kid tells them not to worry that everything is okay. He further explains that they have entered the gravitational force field of the hyperbolic curve y = 1/x and that this will draw them into the atmosphere of Planet Calculus, their destination. Wiz Kid starts to pull down a special electronic blackboard from the space panel and begins showing the students what is happening graphically. He sketches on a coordinate system the curve y = 1/x.

Wiz Kid indicates by an arrow on the graph where the spaceship currently is and where it is heading. He explains that the turbulents that they are experiencing are a result of the tremendous gravitational pull exerted by the hyperbolic force field. The spaceship begins to rock violently and the three students aboard, Jason, Eric, and Jill become frightened. Wiz Kid, in a calming manner, explains to them what is happening and puts them at ease. He explains to the three young students that the spaceship is currently experiencing the concept of limit firsthand because it is moving along the hyperbolic curve in the direction of the positive x-axis (as represented by the graph) . Wiz Kid continues expounding that as they move further along the x-axis, that is to say, as x approaches infinity, the spaceship will approach the limit as exhibited by the function. As the ship does, its speed will also increase tremendously.

Suddenly a large 0 appears in the distance---the limit of the function. The spaceship seems to be heading straight through the zero. The speed is increasing now seemingly without bound. Wiz Kid explains that they have approached the speed of light. Wiz Kid tells the students to brace themselves as they burst through the limit of the function and thereby enter the atmosphere of Planet Calculus.

A loud whirring noise now begins to permeate the interior of the ship. The noise becomes deafening. The students are holding on for their lives as all this is happening. The looks on each of their faces is one of pure astonishment. Their hearts are pounding as beads of sweat form on each one’s brow. Jill is practically faint and Eric looks extremely pale. Jason is the only one who seems to be enjoying any of this.

The noise continues. The zero becomes closer as viewed from the ship window. Wiz Kid checks the ship’s locational indicator and begins counting 5,4,3,2,1.....touchdown! The spaceship jolts, rocks violently back and forth, and it seems as though they will all perish. Then...suddenly the ship comes to a halt. The students, after a rather scary beginning to this most curious journey, arrive on Planet Calculus. They now await eagerly the fun and exciting learning which is about to begin.

The ship door opens and the students step out onto Planet Calculus. It is twilight and all around them they can see stars, and off in the distance, what appears to be planets. They are all mesmerized by the view. It seems as though they are on the surface of some strange planet, yet in the middle of space. Every few minutes, a streak of light will appear in the sky, which has a short ceiling and seems to be right above them. The streaks of light correspond to shooting stars and meteorites which are traveling through the Wiz Kid Galaxy. As they step out, something catches Jill’s eye.

Jill: (looking off to the right) Hey, take a look over there.

Jason: Yeah, I see that.

Eric: It seems to be some kind of dense nebulae.

Jill: Alright, Eric with the million-dollar vocab. What’s a nebulae?

Eric: Come on, Jill. A nebulae, plural of nebula, is just some interstellar dust or gas that forms in space. It pretty much looks like that is what’s going on over there.

Jill: (somewhat sarcastically) Gee, you learn something everyday. All right with the space terminology but I got talked into this trip (looking toward Jason)—which after that crazy landing—to learn some calc.

Jason: Hey come one, Jill. It wasn’t all that bad. You need to go on more of those rides at the amusement park with me. After a few times on that 200 foot roller coaster that goes upside down and does three entire double twisting corkscrew loops, this trip won’t seem that bad.

Jill: Yeah, keep dreaming! (Pausing) You’re never getting me on that thing. Back to what I said before, I came here to learn calc not to see how tolerant I am of crazy rides.

Eric: (in his typical nonchalant tone) Well, that’s what we’re all here for. Now as I said, that seems to be some kind of nebulae.

Wiz Kid: (Jumping in on the scene) You're right, Eric. That's called Nebulae Hyperbolic 1/x. Notice the shape of the star particles forming the outer region. They're in the shape of the curve y = 1/x.

Jason: Wow! That's awesome. If I remember correctly, the curve y = 1/x has what's known as asymptotes.

Wiz Kid: That's right, Jason. Both vertical and horizontal asymptotes. And what's more, what we'll be learning on our journey is that this function demonstrates the concept of a function which approaches a limit at infinity. Here watch. 

[Here Wiz Kid pulls down the special electronic blackboard located above his head in the spaceship. He sketches one branch of the curve y = 1/x as below.  Suddenly a loud noise seems to come out of space. The students feel the ground shaking and begin to become startled.  They feel as though they are being sucked  up by some powerful gravitational force. Suddenly, they feel as though they are moving in space along the surface of the planet. The students seem to be accelerating without limit. They have entered the hyperbolic force field.]