Arbitrary Memes

The perfect encapsulation of abstract mathematics! Students stare bewildered at an amorphous blob on the board, desperately trying to identify what it represents, while math professors casually dismiss their confusion with "It's arbitrary." In higher mathematics, "arbitrary" is basically code for "don't worry about what it looks like—just accept this weird shape exists." Math professors have transcended the need for concrete visualization, while students are still stuck in the "but what IS it?" phase of mathematical development.

The mathematical existential crisis is real! This is the numerical equivalent of naming your pet rock—technically, you can do it. In mathematics, we can indeed assign any name to any number (hello, Graham's Number and Googolplex), but "morbillion" exists in that delightful limbo between made-up internet nonsense and legitimate mathematical nomenclature. Since our number system is infinitely extensible, the fictional "morbillion" could theoretically be defined anywhere we want. It's like reserving a username that nobody was competing for but still feeling smug about getting it first. The real mind-blow is realizing our number naming conventions are just as arbitrary as deciding whether a hotdog is a sandwich.

Every math student's nightmare lurking in proofs: "Let ε be arbitrarily small." Translation: "I'm about to make your life unnecessarily complicated without specifying exactly how small is small enough." The mathematical equivalent of your friend saying "I'll be there in 5 minutes" when they haven't even left their house yet. Calculus professors worldwide high-five each other whenever they unleash this phrase upon unsuspecting students.