Approximations Memes

Posts tagged with Approximations

The Scientific Path To Singlehood

The Scientific Path To Singlehood
The Venn diagram of academic sins is absolutely savage! Physicists modeling penguins as cylinders (because who needs biological accuracy?), engineers rounding π to 3 (precision is overrated), and mathematicians defining e with that limit expression that haunts undergrads' nightmares. The overlap is where the real comedy gold happens - approximating sin(x) as x for small angles, treating gravity as exactly 10 m/s², and the cardinal sin of using whatever units make your equations work. No wonder they're all single! Meanwhile, programmers are off in their own circle with x = x + 1 (a mathematical impossibility that somehow works in code), and chemists... well, they're barely even on the diagram. Dating pool = ∅

Physics Students' Favorite Joke

Physics Students' Favorite Joke
The eternal struggle of physics professors everywhere! Top panel shows a student proudly displaying their spherical cow - physics' most beloved approximation. "Let's assume this cow is a perfect sphere in a vacuum..." Meanwhile, the professor below is DONE with hearing this joke for the n-th time (where n approaches infinity). Every physics class has that one student who thinks they're the first person to ever make the spherical cow joke, completely unaware that it's been circulating since Newton was getting bonked by apples. The pain in that professor's eyes? That's the accumulated suffering of hearing "consider a spherical cow" in every thermodynamics lecture since the dawn of time!

The Existential Physics Dog

The Existential Physics Dog
The existential physics dog strikes again! While the owner claims his dog doesn't bite physically, the canine delivers a philosophical chomp straight to our souls by declaring that physics is merely offering approximations of reality and our unified theory dreams are just that—dreams. Nothing like getting your worldview shattered by a Doberman dropping truth bombs about the limitations of theoretical physics. Even string theorists need ice for that burn.

The Great Physics Unmasking

The Great Physics Unmasking
Ever notice how physics textbooks present themselves as these pristine, elegant theories? "Look at my beautiful equations that perfectly describe the universe!" But peel back that mask and—surprise!—it's just angry math with real-world baggage underneath! Physics loves to pretend it's all about elegant solutions until you need to calculate air resistance or deal with non-ideal conditions. Then suddenly your perfect spherical cow needs 17 variables and three approximation methods. The mathematical walk of shame every physicist knows too well!

The STEM Dating Profile

The STEM Dating Profile
This Venn diagram is basically a dating profile for STEM fields. Physicists are out here assuming penguins are perfect cylinders because apparently reality is just too messy. Engineers decided π=3 because who needs those pesky decimals anyway? And mathematicians are defining 'e' with limits that make normal people's brains melt. The overlap zones are pure gold - physicists and engineers bonding over "sin x = x" (which is only true for tiny angles, but why let accuracy get in the way of a good approximation?). Meanwhile, everyone's using random units and gravity is just "about 10" because who has time for 9.8? And programmers? Off in their own little world with "x = x + 1" which makes mathematicians scream internally. The chemists got a tiny circle because they're too busy making things explode to participate in these shenanigans. Notice how "single" sits right in the middle of physicists, engineers, and mathematicians. Coincidence? I think not.

The Physicist's Household Commandments

The Physicist's Household Commandments
The ultimate physicist's home decor manifesto! This brilliant sign showcases the sacred assumptions that keep theoretical physics from collapsing into chaos. From the cosmic significance of black holes to those perfectly spherical cows that populate every physics problem (because real cow shapes are just too mainstream), it's the ultimate nerd creed! The small-angle approximation (sin(x)=x) and that cheeky exponential approximation are the secret weapons physicists use to make math behave. And let's not forget the scandalous hot take on Schrödinger's cat – turns out it wasn't simultaneously alive AND dead... someone just committed felony feline homicide! 🐱⚰️

The Dark Side Of Theoretical Physics

The Dark Side Of Theoretical Physics
The eternal battle between physics and mathematics, reimagined as a galactic lesson! Physics isn't stronger than math—it's just the shortcut everyone secretly wants to take. Every physicist knows that behind our elegant equations and hand-wavy approximations lurks the dark side of rigorous mathematical proofs we conveniently ignore. "Just assume a spherical cow in vacuum" is basically our version of Force powers. Meanwhile, mathematicians are sitting there proving the existence of the cow in n-dimensional space.

When One Electron Is Your Only Friend

When One Electron Is Your Only Friend
The crushing reality of quantum mechanics in four panels! First we see our happy physicist solving the Schrödinger equation for one electron—piece of cake! But then comes the fatal question: "Great, now we can do two electrons, right?" Poor soul doesn't realize they've just stepped into the quantum many-body problem—where exact solutions vanish faster than funding opportunities. The two-electron helium atom? Mathematically unsolvable without approximations! That desperate "How do I break it to them gently?" thought bubble is every professor watching their grad student's optimism before it gets quantum-entangled with despair. The final panel's suggestion to study the positively charged helium ion instead is the equivalent of saying "Have you considered a simpler dissertation topic?" Classic academic bait-and-switch!

The Physics Meme Admin's Daily Dilemma

The Physics Meme Admin's Daily Dilemma
The eternal struggle of physics meme creators brilliantly captured! That yellow hand hovering over buttons of increasingly chaotic physics "facts" is pure genius. From the small sin approximation (sin(x) ≈ x for small angles) stretched to absurdity, to casually declaring e = 3 = π (numbers that differ by ~17%), to the classic Schrödinger's cat reference—it's a masterclass in triggering physics students. The "neglect air resistance" button is particularly savage since it's the first approximation in basically every mechanics problem ever. Whoever made this clearly understands the deep satisfaction of watching physicists twitch uncontrollably when confronted with mathematical blasphemy.

The Negligible Genius

The Negligible Genius
Einstein says intelligent people ignore, and chemistry students took that advice too literally! The meme brilliantly captures that moment in chemistry calculations when you decide intermolecular forces are just... optional. Big brain energy until your professor marks your answer wrong because those "negligible" forces actually determine whether something's a gas, liquid, or solid at room temperature. Whoops! It's basically the chemistry equivalent of saying "friction doesn't exist" and then wondering why your car won't stop. Those tiny attractions between molecules might seem insignificant, but ignore them and suddenly your calculations are as accurate as a meteorologist predicting sunshine during a hurricane!

Kids On This Sub When They Realize Approximations Are Everywhere In Physics

Kids On This Sub When They Realize Approximations Are Everywhere In Physics
The existential crisis every physics student inevitably faces. That moment when you realize the Taylor series in the meme is just the mathematical way of saying "yeah, we're just guessing with extra steps." First-year students enter thinking physics offers perfect models of reality, then discover we're all just truncating infinite series and pretending air resistance doesn't exist. The astronaut with the gun is just enforcing what senior physicists have known for decades—it's approximations all the way down. Spherical cows in vacuum, anyone?

Air Resistance Basically Turns You Into An Engineer

Air Resistance Basically Turns You Into An Engineer
Theoretical physicists boldly claim to "fear no man" until air resistance enters the chat. Nothing ruins a beautiful equation faster than drag coefficients. Suddenly your elegant free-fall calculation needs seventeen new terms and three differential equations. The perfect sphere becomes "approximately spherical" and your homework takes twice as long. Real-world physics is just theoretical physics with disappointment built in.