MathPlus's definitions

ippiteracy

When someone is not piterate, as they are unaware of falsehoods or white lies about the number π, which might elude even long-serving math teachers and exam-smart parents.

Common signs of ippiteracy among students and teachers are: π = 22/7, pi is defined in relation to a circle or limited to geometry, and π = 3 for biblical literalists.

by MathPlus September 10, 2021

Covid-💩

When fecal transplants are used to treat severe cases of Covid-19, especially among patients who are unresponsive to conventional treatment—stool from a healthy donor, that is, the microbes from their gut, is collected and injected into the patient’s gut.

Guesstimate how many patients with severe comorbidities hospitalized for Covid-19 worldwide recover faster when treated with Covid-💩 methods.

by MathPlus September 9, 2021

Piterate

When someone knows enough about the number π that they are unlikely to be taken advantage of by mathematical charlatans or cranks.

A premium tuition center is inviting Prof. Pilate to conduct a recreational math lesson on “The Joy (and Pain) of Pi” for its privileged students, so that they’d not only be numerate but also piterate.

by MathPlus September 7, 2021

Vice Math

Adult math questions that leverage on the activities that take place at karaoke lounges and nightclubs, which often illegally employ foreign-born hostesses to entertain both local and foreign male customers seeking some thrill they can’t get from their girlfriends and wives.

Can you solve this vice math problem? “The total number of Covid-19 cases linked to an infected KTV hostess so far is 128, who is traced to have had initial contact with two customers. Assuming that all infected patrons at the sleazy location each went on to share the virus with two other persons, what is the reproduction number R₀ for this cluster?”

by MathPlus September 6, 2021

Xi Math

When math curriculums in China are expected to subtly incorporate some of Emperor Xi’s thought as well as to praise the mixed achievements of past and present mainland Chinese mathematicians and their IMO mathletes-medalists as part of the country’s rich mathematical heritage—when political ideology and mathematical glory could serve as a catalyst to raising the quantitative literacy or numeracy of a billion-odd people.

Brainwashing hundreds of millions of schoolchildren, including targeting those in the Chinese diaspora, with Xi math could usher in a new era in math education worldwide, which could challenge the elitist or supremacist position of Western math in coming decades—when exporting China math worldwide under the guise of raising global numeracy could be a modern form of intellectual colonialism.

by MathPlus September 5, 2021

The Sanitization of Singapore Math

When fertile or fitting real-life or contextual questions and math tidbits or humor in a math textbook, submitted to Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) for approval, are often rejected for politically incorrect reasons, or because the items could potentially be perceived to be linked to politics, race, religion, or sex.

Items like “Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not divide by zero!” and phrases like “beautiful curves,” “immoral algebra,” and “juicy little theorem” are banned without being given valid reasons—aren’t these rejections part of the sanitization of Singapore math to only publish sterilized or sterile contents to satisfy the mathematical wants of a humorously or prudishly challenged audience or readership?

by MathPlus September 5, 2021

Immoral Vaccination

When high-income countries with high vaccination rates would almost have to beg or coax their citizens to get their third booster shots rather than giving or selling their surplus or hoarded vaccines to developing nations, where the people long to get jabbed.

Nations guilty of immoral vaccination only agree to donate their near-expiry vaccines to desperate pro-Western developing countries, or decide to practice “dose sharing” with another developed country that has a low vaccination rate and a low supply of Western vaccines.

by MathPlus September 4, 2021