The Evolution Of Division Notation

The mathematical equivalent of being told "you ain't seen nothing yet." First, we're shown sine and tangent functions—both continuous and well-behaved. Then comes the punchline: tan⁻¹(tan(x)), which looks like it should simplify to just x, but instead gives us this discontinuous nightmare of parallel lines. It's the mathematical equivalent of your advisor saying "your first experiment was just the warm-up." That function isn't continuous—it's having an existential crisis every π radians. No wonder my pen has been lifted into the stratosphere; I've thrown it there in frustration.

The ultimate battle of logical reasoning! On the left, mathematical induction shows off with its domino effect—proving something works for all numbers by showing it works for one case and then proving each step leads to the next. Meanwhile, science induction is just a white pigeon confidently declaring "all ravens are black." Congratulations, you've discovered the whitest counterexample possible! This perfectly captures why scientists need more than just "I've seen it a bunch of times, must be universal law." Next up: discovering gravity doesn't exist because I once saw a helium balloon float upward.

The lightbulb is unreasonably excited about dates that read the same forward and backward. May 2025 will be a mathematical paradise for pattern-loving nerds, with 5/2/25, 5/20/25, 5/21/25... all being palindromes when written as MM/DD/YY. This is what happens when you give mathematicians calendars. They find symmetry in places normal people use to remember dentist appointments.

The numerical identity crisis is real! Base 10 (decimal) is where both mathematicians and computer scientists feel at home - just normal humans doing normal math things. But watch what happens when we switch systems! Base 2 (binary) reveals the true divide: mathematicians are having an existential breakdown with all those 1s and 0s, while computer scientists are smugly comfortable - it's literally their native language. Then comes Base 16 (hexadecimal) where mathematicians descend into complete numerical horror at dealing with letters as numbers, while computer scientists just put on their cool glasses and get to work. Nothing says "I understand memory addresses" like casually throwing around values like 0xDEADBEEF without breaking a sweat.

Everyone wants to ponder the mysteries of the cosmos until it's time to do the actual math! The top panel shows a room full of eager hands shooting up when asked about understanding the universe—cosmic mysteries, dark matter, and the fabric of reality? Sign us up! But mention "math" in the bottom panel and suddenly everyone's got urgent appointments elsewhere. It's the intellectual equivalent of a dog who drops the ball at your feet, begs you to throw it, then refuses to give it up when you reach for it. "No take knowledge without equations, only throw fascinating concepts!" 🌌➗

The classic case of mathematical hubris meets basic integration. Student thinks they're outsmarting the professor by taking a different approach to find f(x) when given f'(x) = 2x. Instead of recognizing this as a straightforward x² + C situation, they perform some creative calculus gymnastics, invert the function, and somehow conclude f(x) = -1/x². The professor's "WTF???" and "Idiot" annotations are basically peer review in its rawest form. Nothing humbles a self-proclaimed math genius faster than discovering the fundamental theorem of calculus actually works.