Mathematical Humour

Q: Why did the chicken cross the Moebius strip?

A: To get to the other ... er, um ..

(For those confused by this then have a look at one here. You can easily build one with a piece of paper by cutting a long rectangluar strip from the paper, giving it a half-twist, and glueing the ends together.)

(and now look at Escher's amazing Wood engraving in three colours)


"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems" -- P. Erdos


A limerick:

((12 + 144 + 20 + (3 * 4^(1/2))) / 7) + (5 * 11) = 9^2 + 0

To be read as follows:

A Dozen, a Gross and a Score,

plus three times the square root of four,

divided by seven,

plus five times eleven,

equals nine squared and not a bit more.

( read more here , though be warned, you need to know a lot of maths to understand them all!)


'Tis a favorite project of mine

A new value of pi to assign.

I would fix it at 3

For it's simpler, you see,

Than 3 point 1 4 1 5 9.

 

( you could become very knowledgable about Pi by clicking here).


Theorem: a cat has nine tails.

Proof:

No cat has eight tails. A cat has one tail more than no cat. Therefore, a cat has nine tails.

(If you believe this proof then possibly you need some Remedial help!)


My geometry teacher was sometimes acute, and sometimes obtuse, but always, he was right.

( If this is confusing then consult Euclid's Elements, BookI, Definitions 11 and 12 )


Old mathematicians never die; they just lose some of their functions.

( Need some help with this? Cick here)


There are three kinds of people in the world; those who can count and those who can't.


There are two groups of people in the world; those who believe that the world can be divided into

two groups of people, and those who don't.


The world is divided into two classes: people who say "The world is divided into two classes", and

people who say The world is divided into two classes: people who say: "The world is divided into

two classes", and people who say: The world is divided into two classes: people who say ...


Top eight excuses for not doing homework:

I accidentally divided by zero and my paper burst into flames.

Isaac Newton's birthday.

I have the proof, but there isn't room to write it in this margin.

I was watching the World Series and got tied up trying to prove that it converged.

I have a solar powered calculator and it was cloudy.

I locked the paper in my trunk but a four-dimensional dog got in and ate it.

I couldn't figure out whether i am the square of negative one or i is the square root of negative one.

I could have sworn I put the homework inside a Klein bottle, but this morning I couldn't find it. (more here on Klein bottles, and, do we live in a Klein bottle?)


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