When Cubic Equations Give You Laser Vision

Two people arguing over whether 1E12 is a trillion or a billion, while the Greek mathematician sips tea knowing it's actually a myriad of myriad of myriads (10,000³). This is what happens when you mix ancient number systems with modern scientific notation. The Greeks had their own numerical headaches long before we started fighting over whether a billion has 9 or 12 zeros. Next time someone corrects your powers of 10, just mumble "kai su, emiristarkhon" and walk away dramatically.

Mathematicians dropping a slightly deformed sine function like it's a hot new album! The equation x - 0.1x·|x| creates this beautiful wave that's basically sine but with a subtle attitude problem. It's what happens when a perfectly respectable trig function decides to rebel against mathematical convention. The absolute value term gives it that slight asymmetry—making it the mathematical equivalent of bedhead. Every calculus teacher's nightmare and every engineering student's "close enough" approximation.

Content Random Redittor: r/sciencememes Why are Math memes welcome here if Math is not a science? Just asking Me: Because math IS a science subject, math memes are welcomed here.

The expanding brain meme perfectly captures the mathematician's descent into madness. Starting with "direct proof" (basic skull), we progress through increasingly galaxy-brain methods until we reach the final boss: "proof by lack of counterexample" – which is basically saying "I can't think of why I'm wrong, so I must be right." Every math professor has witnessed the horror of a student writing "clearly" or "obviously" before the most convoluted statement imaginable. And don't get me started on "proof is left as an exercise to the reader" – the academic equivalent of "figure it out yourself, I'm going to lunch." It's what professors do when they either can't solve it themselves or are too lazy to write out all the steps. Pure mathematical terrorism.

Mathematical notation can drive even the most composed mathematician to madness! The top panel shows the correct interpretations: sin -1 (x) is the inverse sine function (arcsin), while sin 2 (x) means squaring the sine function. But then comes the chaotic evil version where sin -2 (x) is interpreted as (arcsin(x)) 2 - which is completely wrong and would make any math professor spill their coffee. It's like saying "I don't just want to break the rules, I want to set them on fire and dance around the ashes in a tuxedo." No wonder fancy Pooh looks so smugly pleased with himself!

The mathematical personality spectrum is real! Mathematicians really do build their entire identity around that ONE theorem they proved in grad school. You've got your Unabomber types who scribble proofs in remote cabins, your eccentric Erdős types who live for math and nothing else, your clean-cut academic who explains group theory at dinner parties, and finally... the "I haven't showered since discovering a new prime number" look. The mathematical community's unspoken dress code ranges from "potential FBI watchlist" to "delightfully disheveled genius." Erdős himself was famous for living out of a suitcase and showing up at colleagues' homes announcing "my brain is open" - the original mathematical nomad!