this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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Math Memes

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Memes related to mathematics.

Rules:
1: Memes must be related to mathematics in some way.
2: No bigotry of any kind.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

25 - ⁵/₅ = 25 - 1 = 24

If you wrote it vertically:

25 - 5
————— = 4
5

But once you lay it out on one line, you have to use prins to prioritize addition / subtraction:

(25 - 5) / 5 = 20 / 5 = 4

Some YouTube mathematicians deep-dive into this.

ETA: Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

5-5/5 != Sandwich

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

#DAMN YOU MATHEMATICIANS! YOU GOT ME AGAIN!!!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Comment section full of people looking for an opportunity to argue

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Did nobody learn order of operations?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The meme is correct. It is 4!.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah but it's playing on the idea that the reader would think 25-5÷5 is 4. That's the joke. Without it there's no punchline.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

No no, they're saying "4!" literally is the answer. The joke is that you say 4!, the other person who presumably knows the order of operations assumes you got it wrong and did 25 - 5 = 20 ÷ 5 = 4 when really you do division first so the real answer is 24. The punchline is that "4!" is how you write 4 factorial or 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 which is 24.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast; I would catch it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

Yes, I understand that 4! is the correct answer. That is not my point. Without the misconception that the answer is 4, there is no punchline. This comic strongly implies that the natural assumption should be that the answer is 4, and that the secret, hidden answer is 24. In other words, in a world where people understand order of operations, the comic is not funny, because you wouldn't look at that and think 4 is a reasonable answer.

The joke relies on, as you put it, the assumption you did it wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Promptly Evacuate Manure Drain And Septic

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

The answer in the comic is correct. It's just written in a way to make you as the reader think he's got it wrong for a second.

The ! operator in mathematics indicates a function called a factorial. Four factorial, or 4! = 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24. Which is the correct answer if you follow the proper order of operations.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

ASCII hack failure of language. Even in mathematics, ! has multiple meanings like with Boolean NOT. We need a science, math, and language reformation to remove non intuitive narcissistic names, and implied contextual meanings.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago

I believe you mean, "nice pun!"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

You might find Lojban interesting if you are not already aware. (I haven't tried to learn it myself, I just know it exists)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If someone wants to start a Lojban pun community, I would definitely subscribe just to learn about Lojban.

Although, if no one posted in the community, I wouldn't be sure if it was a perfectly logical language or the community was just dead.

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