AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Calculus jokes limit1/6/2024 ![]() ![]() So apologies to Matt Parker, Des McHale, Colin Adams, Ed Burger, or any of the other funny math folks who think they should have been included.Īnyway, where was I? Oh, right. While it’s certainly egotistical to think that I’m the only one in the intersection, it’s likely offensive to include anyone in the intersection who really wouldn’t want to be. Uh… I can think of at least one person who cares enough. Not to mention, how many of them would care enough to do so? Plus, I’ve heard that less than 1% of the world’s population has taken calculus, so there aren’t too many people who could actually check the math. Most people just read the joke, get the humor that the note’s author has used some odious expression to represent the PIN code, and go on about their day. I suppose it’s funny enough, and I guess it’s technically a math joke, but there’s a problem. $13$, that's prime.My brother-in-law recently forwarded an email that contained a lot of images plucked from various degenerate corners of the internet, and he suggested that this one could go into my next book: $9$, that's prime YES IT IS - DON'T ARGUE! YOU ARE STUPID! $11$, that's prime. $1$, that's prime, it's obvious it is, no argument there. $9$, that's prime (although when I measured it, it looked like it might not be - experimental error, ignore that one) $11$, that's prime. $1$, that's prime (well not technically, but that's just mathematical double-talk). Why do mathematicians get Halloween and Christmas confused?īecause $\mathsf\) The result follows after rounding to the nearest integer. $1+1 = 3$, for sufficiently large values of $1$. ![]() The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. Adams: The Knot Book: Knot Jokes and Pastimes (attributed to Martin Scharlemann) Surreal version Knot Theory Student A: "What's your favourite area of mathematics?" Student B: " Knot theory." Student A: "Me neither." - 1994: Colin C. The squaw on the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws on the other two hides. The third lady, as well she might, was sitting on the skin of a hippopotamus, as she herself weighed a mighty $300$ pounds. On a buffalo skin sat a lady who was the mother of a fine young warrior who weighed $160$ pounds. On a reindeer skin sat a lady who was the mother of a fine young warrior who weighed $140$ pounds. Once upon a time there were three ladies of the First Peoples of America sitting around the campfire. George ruefully took Arthur's hundred back out of his pocket and dropped it onto the table. "You see?" said George, pocketing Arthur's hundred.Īs Jody turned away, she called back over her shoulder, "Plus a constant." "One third x cubed," replied Jody, dutifully. Hey, Jody! What's the indefinite integral of x squared with respect to x?" A hundred bucks says our waitress can answer such a question. George said, "Yes, I think I will take you up on it. There's a good tip in it for you."Īrthur returned. "When he comes back, I'm going to call you over, and ask you a question, to which you are to answer: one third x cubed." "I'd like you to help settle a wager between me and my colleague," he said. This appears to be a custom in certain chain diners.) (He knew that was her name because it was written on a badge pinned to her uniform. "Not sure whether to take you up on your bet or not, but I reckon you'd be wrong."Īrthur slipped off to the mens' room at that point, and while he was gone, George called over the waitress Jody. "I bet you a hundred bucks," said Arthur, "that if you were to ask a random college student a basic question in calculus, he wouldn't understand the question, let alone furnish you with an answer." George, on the other hand, was confident that any student would at least know the basics of calculus. Arthur was convinced they were slipping badly, and that your average college student was completely mathematically illiterate. ![]() Two captains of industry, Arthur and George, were in a restaurant discussing the state of educational standards, particularly in the field of mathematics.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |