Number theory Memes

The purple Teletubby showing off the number 2 among all those prime numbers (3, 5, 7, 11, 13) is mathematical treason of the highest order! It's like bringing a spoon to a fork fight. Every mathematician just felt a disturbance in the force—the only even prime number crashing the exclusive club meeting. The number 2 is that weird exception that proves the rule: "All prime numbers are odd... except when they're not." Mathematicians have to add that asterisk to every prime number definition, and you can just tell they're bitter about it.

Ah, the eternal quest to make mathematical notation less horrifying! In the top panel, we have the standard factorial notation where 5! = 120. But our brave mathematician rejects this conventional approach with disgust. Instead, they propose the revolutionary "120? = 5" format in the bottom panel—essentially asking "what number, when factorialized, gives us 120?" It's the mathematical equivalent of answering a question with another question, which is precisely how I respond to undergraduate emails asking for extra credit. Just imagine the chaos in textbooks: "Solve for x: 3628800? = x". Pure mathematical anarchy. I'm sure the International Mathematical Union would have an absolute meltdown.

Oh look, a mathematical "shortcut" that's about as practical as using a space shuttle to grab milk from the corner store! The formula divides the digits 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 by 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 to get 8.000000729... Because apparently saying "8" is too mainstream. Next up: calculating π by measuring the circumference of your pizza with your shoelace divided by how many times you've questioned your life choices today. Mathematicians: making simple things unnecessarily complicated since Pythagoras couldn't just walk around the triangle.

Oh the beautiful harmony of divisibility rules... until number 7 crashes the party! The grid reads "2 THANK 3 YOU 4 ALL 5 FOR 6 HAVING 7 NOT YOU 8 EASY 9 DIVISIBILITY 10 RULES" - and it's hilariously accurate! While most numbers have simple tricks to check divisibility (divisible by 2 if the last digit is even, by 3 if sum of digits is divisible by 3, etc.), poor number 7 is the mathematical equivalent of that one friend who brings calculus problems to a pizza party. No clean trick, just pure mathematical chaos! That's why only the true math villains among us gleefully apply the test for 7 in calculations. The rest of us just grab a calculator and silently question our life choices.