Numerati's definitions
A cappuccino whose 3D froth resembles the shape of some cute feline figure, which excites tens of millions of cat lovers worldwide—their posting of it on social media often goes viral.
by Numerati September 27, 2025
Get the Cattuccinomug. When it is humanly understandable to give up instead of persevering when faced with a false start or failure in solving a math problem—when the pain-and-gain mindset is often missing among struggling or frustrated students, who mistakenly thought that only those blessed or born with the “mathematical gene” could do math.
Fight-or-flight math makes it hard for us to think clearly, logically, and reflexively. Let not negative emotions take control of our reactions.
by Numerati August 8, 2024
Get the Fight-or-Flight Mathmug. Short for “Mar-a-Lago Math.” Questions that creative math educators love to pose to expose the dark businesses and malpractices that often take place there between Mr. Pinocchio and his entourage of rogue advisors and morally corrupt lawmakers: shady deals, illicit affairs, illegal storage of classified documents, doctored valuations, and the like.
One billion-dollar MAL math question that has divided real estate agents and bankers is the value of the notorious Floridian private club, which ranges wildly from $18 million to over $1 billion.
by Numerati December 10, 2023
Get the MAL Mathmug. The maternal equivalent of “girl math.” When mentally stressed, resourceful, or street-smart mothers share tips on digital platforms like TikTok and Instagram how they plan their hectic schedules around their children’s sleeping or waking hours, or how they stretch their money to meet their little ones’ needs and wants, without experiencing a mental meltdown.
Mom math is applying home calculus to the family life, by maximizing love, joy, and peace (or minimizing fear, pain, and stress) for family members from limited time or resources.
by Numerati October 12, 2023
Get the Mom Mathmug. The many whys that promoted mathematicians and math educators (or even nonmath people like artists and creatives) to toy around with the number π for centuries, be it to prove a beautiful theorem, promote the constant in popular culture (art, fashion, perfume, cellphone, movie, and the like), collaborate as a community, challenge tradition, leave a mathematical legacy, or show their intelligence.
Like art and philosophy, pi mesmerizes both math and nonmath people in every corner of the globe. No wonder, those outside the pi community would often ask: What’s the point of pi?
by Numerati October 16, 2024
Get the What’s the Point of Pi?mug. A kind of alien math from a rebel island that was once part of Malaysia, where they learn and teach math word problems in a local dialect called Singlish, using rectangles, lines, and dotted lines, which the people there call “bar models,” with most of them looking arguably ugly.
Local teachers told an Englishman that Singapori Math is a rojak or mélange of methodologies and pedagogies, with ingredients from both the East and the West—when the island was trying to solve its population’s high innumeracy rate in the seventies.
by Numerati March 15, 2024
Get the Singapori Mathmug. Also known as the numerology of Taylor Swift, which revolves around the number 13. From Taylor’s birthdate to her flight from Tokyo to Super Bowl 58 (5 + 8 = 13)—a trip that would take her approximately 13 hours—to attend her 13th NFL game this season, which is taking place on February 11 (2 + 11 = 13) with the Kansas City Chiefs facing the San Francisco 49ers (4 + 9 = 13). Also, adding her ubiquitous 13 to her boyfriend Travis’s #87 Chiefs’ jersey yields the perfect score 100.
Swiftie math provides math teachers worldwide a golden opportunity to expose millions of oft-math-anxious students-Swifties to the pseudoscience of numbers.
by Numerati February 11, 2024
Get the Swiftie Mathmug.