MathPlus's definitions

The Year of the Covidox

When Chinese at their annual family reunion dinner held before or during the Lunar New Year of the Ox are banned from screaming auspicious or superstitious phrases at each other to minimize the odds of corona infection, but are encouraged to play pre-recorded good-luck or prosperity messages instead.

In the Year of the Covidox, dozens of diners had their non-Chinese neighbors report them to the police for noise pollution, and for failing to wear a mask while broadcasting their deafening auspicious greetings.

by MathPlus February 3, 2021

To Mask or Not to Mask

The moral decision heads of state need to take due to a shortage of face masks in the market, as they don’t want to create a public panic that would lead to mask hoarding, which would endanger the lives of unmasked medical personnel and frontline workers.

With the pandemic crisis worsening, and not wanting to alarm the public by telling them the painful truth of a dearth of mask supply, politically vulnerable heads of state need to make up their minds whether to mask or not to mask the population—which decision would minimize the number of infections and deaths?

by MathPlus June 9, 2021

🤥₁₉

An emoticon that shows that the Liar-in-Chief or Pinocchio-in-Chief has unsurprisingly contracted the coronavirus due to his callous attitudes to protect himself and others from being infected.

How many 💀’s could result because of 🤥₁₉ and 🤢’s—the superspreader and those he had infected?

by MathPlus October 4, 2020

Rainbow Math

When liberal publishers in some Western countries decide to green-light math titles by LGBT+ authors in spite of the high risk of offending or alienating conservative potential customers—when they argue that sexual orientation and math publication needn’t be mutually exclusive.

Radical Islamist groups from rogue nations like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iran have warned foreign publishers that their publications would be removed from bookstores if they’re caught shipping rainbow math titles to both Mohammedans and “infidels.”

by MathPlus October 10, 2021

Maskopause

When some people at a certain age can do without a face mask, because apparently their immune system by then is strong enough to fight coronaviruses or their deadlier variants, which goes against the fact that adults or seniors are more prone to getting infected compared to the younger generation.

Guesstimate how many corona-proof people worldwide fall under the maskopause category.

by MathPlus August 4, 2021

Bluster Shot

When a number of children are eager to get jabbed so that they could boast to their peers that they were vaccinated and that they would innocently be protected from all coronaviruses and their variants, with near-zero worry of any short- and long-term side effects considering their age and still-developing immune system.

Politicians and pharmaceutical companies are counting on bluster shots to further open up the economy, and to boost their profit, respectively, with little regard for potential long-term negative effects on the health or growth of millions of children, who have quasi-zero say in their vaccination choice.

by MathPlus December 27, 2021

Mathematical Verb

A math word or term that has graduated from noun to verb—for example, “zero,” “square,” and “number.”

Mathematical verbs, such as model, pattern, and fractal, are the mathematical equivalents of Google, Xerox, and Zoom.

by MathPlus October 19, 2021