Functional-analysis Memes

The mathematical journey from innocence to trauma in four panels. First, you're a happy little square enjoying linear algebra—matrices, eigenvalues, simple transformations. Then curiosity strikes: "How do infinite dimensional vector spaces work?" Your neat mathematical shape starts to deform as you venture into Hilbert spaces and topology. By the time you hit functional analysis—with its nightmare fuel of Hahn-Banach theorems and spectral theory—you're being punched in the mathematical gut. The final panel says it all: "NEVER AGAIN." This is the academic equivalent of touching a hot stove and learning a permanent lesson about the dangers of advanced mathematics. Graduate students' tears are the secret ingredient in every functional analysis textbook.

While your parents were busy planning weddings at 25, you're in a committed relationship with Sobolev spaces and partial differential equations. Nothing says "I've made excellent life choices" like spending Friday nights with functional analysis instead of functional humans. The generational shift is real—they built families, you're building mathematical frameworks that precisely six people in the world fully understand. But hey, at least your relationship with advanced mathematics is stable... unlike those pesky differential equations you're studying.