Obvious Memes

The graph perfectly captures that special moment in math class when someone asks you to prove the most ridiculously self-evident statement imaginable. "Prove that a set of elements contains the elements it contains" is like asking you to prove water is wet or that your coffee mug contains what your coffee mug contains. Yet somehow, the more obvious something is, the more pages of dense notation your professor expects. I once had a student turn in a proof like this with just "Because it does" written on it. I gave him an A for efficiency and a D for academic survival skills.

Behold, the moment Euclid had his earth-shattering revelation that identical things are... wait for it... identical! The face of a man whose mind is absolutely blown by the most circular of logical reasoning. It's like discovering water is wet and then writing a 13-volume treatise about it. To be fair, ancient Greek mathematicians had to start somewhere—might as well begin with "things that are the same are the same." Revolutionary stuff! Next week: Pythagoras discovers that square things are square-shaped.

The beauty of this meme is that it's mathematically correct yet designed to trigger every math nerd's fight-or-flight response! Solving for x in 3x + 2 = 5, we get 3x = 3, so x = 1. But presenting it as some mind-blowing revelation is pure mathematical trolling. It's like announcing "Breaking News: Water Is Wet!" with dramatic flair. The "Believe it or not" framing transforms the most basic algebra problem into clickbait for mathematicians. This is basically the mathematical equivalent of saying "I know something you don't know" to a room full of PhDs.

Behold, elementary arithmetic having an existential crisis! The equation "1 - 0 = ?" followed by "You won't believe it, but the answer is 0!!!" is like watching someone discover fire in 2023. Next up: water is wet and the sky is blue. This is what happens when clickbait meets basic math education. I've seen students pull off more impressive mathematical errors after three all-nighters and a gallon of energy drinks.

Every math student knows that special moment of panic when the professor casually skips multiple steps with the dreaded phrase "it's obvious." Meanwhile, your brain enters complete shutdown mode, desperately trying to bridge the Grand Canyon-sized gap between steps 2 and 13. The blank, horrified expression perfectly captures that internal dialogue: "Is it actually obvious and I'm just dumb? Should I raise my hand? No, everyone else seems to understand..." In mathematics, we call this phenomenon "proof by intimidation" - where understanding isn't achieved through logic but through fear of looking like the only confused person in the room.

The perfect linear correlation that scientists dream of! This graph brilliantly demonstrates the most reliable mathematical relationship in history: current year minus birth year equals age. Revolutionary stuff. Pope Francis was born in 1936, and—hold onto your lab coats—his age increases precisely one unit per year! Who would've thought? Next up: groundbreaking research confirming water is indeed wet and gravity still pulls things downward. I've seen doctoral theses with less impressive R-squared values than this tautological masterpiece.

Mathematicians have spent centuries trying to solve packing problems, and this genius just... counted to 25? Slow clap. The perfect demonstration of how sometimes the most elegant solution is just stating the obvious. Next breakthrough: discovering that 36 is the optimal packing for... wait for it... 36!

The infamous "proof by intimidation" in its natural habitat. Nothing quite like watching a professor quantum leap through ten algebraic steps, declare "it's obvious," and leave you staring into the void like a shocked Pikachu. Meanwhile, your remaining neurons are desperately trying to figure out what dark mathematical sorcery just happened. Pro tip: if a professor says "it's obvious," it's definitely not obvious to anyone except maybe the three people who wrote the textbook.