Computational math Memes

The duality of mathematicians is *chef's kiss*. First they're celebrating like they've discovered free beer at a conference when the Four Color Theorem gets proven. Then their faces drop faster than a failed experiment when they learn computers helped solve it. For the uninitiated, the Four Color Theorem states any map can be colored using just four colors without adjacent regions sharing the same color. It was the first major theorem proven using computer assistance in 1976, causing a philosophical crisis among purists who believed mathematical proofs should be verifiable by human minds alone. Fast forward to today, and AI is knocking on mathematics' door with a sledgehammer. The gatekeepers of mathematical purity are sweating through their tweed jackets.

The mathematical escalation here is beautiful. First panel: 10 5 = 100,000. Mildly impressed face. Second panel: 10 ⁵ written differently, same number. Slightly more excited. But that third panel... 10 5 is pentation - raising 10 to the power of itself 5 times. That's a number so incomprehensibly large it would make supercomputers weep. No wonder the guy's face turned into an eldritch horror. Mathematicians call this level of numerical insanity "power towers," and they're basically the math equivalent of saying "hold my coffee" to infinity.