I don't get it.
January 5, 2011 10:56 AM   Subscribe

Please explain this mathematics joke to me.

It's one of those Meyers-Briggs joke graphics, which includes this math joke that is impossible to google for. Found here.
posted by lazaruslong to Grab Bag (21 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Perhaps I am showing my own closet homosexuality, but I read that as:

's cos (cause) 2 x dx (dicks) = sin.

Perhaps a mathematically minded tagwarrior for Christ?
posted by dougrayrankin at 10:58 AM on January 5, 2011


Best answer: I don't think it is a joke. The equation is true; think of it like Rick James saying "I'm Rick James, bitch" (which is also a true statement).
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:02 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


I don't think there really is a joke there. That's the joke.
posted by MadamM at 11:02 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Yeah the joke is that calc equations are not scrawled as graffiti and usualy have the more formal "QED" after them rather then the more modern "bitch"
posted by d4nj450n at 11:10 AM on January 5, 2011 [4 favorites]


Not impossible to google for. But I think the 'joke' is limited to the fact that it includes the word "bitch!"

I am so glad wolfram alpha didn't exist when I was doing math homework; I never would've done any of the work
posted by ook at 11:11 AM on January 5, 2011


Response by poster: ook, I didn't know wolfram alpha = google! I wasn't familiar with the site prior to this thread. Cool stuff.

The explanations by 0xFCAF and d4nj450n ring true to me. I was overthinking it. Of course. Thanks all.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:19 AM on January 5, 2011


And INTP is the Myers-Briggs personality type of a lot of mathematicians and scientists, whose sense of humor is ... or at least can be .... um.... different.
posted by exphysicist345 at 11:26 AM on January 5, 2011


Unfortunately, the statement isn't true it should equal (1/2) sin(2x), no negative, 1/2 outside the sin, and double the operand.

Maybe that's part of the joke - that' it's wrong.
posted by notsnot at 11:27 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


@notsnot: those two answers are the same thing. It is actually correct.
posted by 200burritos at 11:31 AM on January 5, 2011


I didn't know wolfram alpha = google

Ah, to be clear it isn't actually; wolfram alpha is completely separate from google the company. I was unthinkingly using "google" as a generic term for "search for something" -- which is a vocal tic I am now going to be very self-consciously training myself out of.
posted by ook at 11:37 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


...plus a constant.
posted by baf at 11:48 AM on January 5, 2011 [7 favorites]


The constant is "bitch", I believe.
posted by chairface at 12:32 PM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]


notnot is right, the graffiti is wrong.

The correct indefinite integral of cos(2x) is (1/2)*sin(2x)+C, not (1/2)*sin(x)

You can see the difference between them here.
posted by KevCed at 12:51 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Err, notsnot. My apologies.
posted by KevCed at 12:52 PM on January 5, 2011


@200burritos: I think I'm confused here. Are you claiming that 1/2*sin(2x) and -sin(x)*1/2 are both correct answers to the proposed problem? Because they definitely aren't.

When taking an integral, one can double check one's work by taking the derivative of your proposed answer. Using WolframAlpha, we can see that d/dx[-sin(x)*1/2] = -cos(x)/2, which is not the problem posed in the graffito. Instead, the correct answer is that the integral of cos(2x) is equal to sin(x)cos(x)+c or equivalently 1/2*sin(2x)+c (don't forget your double angle formulas!), which is the correct answer given by notsnot.
posted by pmb at 12:52 PM on January 5, 2011


It also made me think of this Toothpaste for Dinner comic.


(I couldn't find a direct permalink to an ad-bearing page with that image. I'm not trying to deprive them of revenue or credit.)
posted by KevCed at 12:56 PM on January 5, 2011


Unfortunately, the statement isn't true it should equal (1/2) sin(2x), no negative, 1/2 outside the sin, and double the operand.

Am I the only one who sees a 'sin(2x)' in the graffiti if I look really closely?
posted by Comrade_robot at 1:21 PM on January 5, 2011


damn it all to hell. the OP's site is blocked at work. I was really hoping to see a good math joke here, just to see if I got it.
posted by indigo4963 at 1:25 PM on January 5, 2011


http://store.xkcd.com/xkcd/#Science

Also: $ cos (something) dx = sin (somthing else) + AN ARBITRARY CONSTANT.
posted by neuron at 1:46 PM on January 5, 2011


Best answer: Here's a closer view (and another) and it appears that someone corrected it so that it rightfully reads 2x inside the sin().
posted by Rhomboid at 5:30 PM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


It shouldn't have that negative sign out front.
posted by monkeymadness at 4:02 AM on January 12, 2011


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