MathPlus's definitions

RCPL

Short for “Royal College Port Louis.” Once Mauritius’s premier boys’ secondary school that would take in the country’s top primary school “tuition-reliant, exam-smart” pupils, and would nurture future political and business leaders to run the volcanic island, where the dodo used to roam freely.

For decades, the day-to-day running of RCPL was like a sheep managing 1,000-odd lions—when the school principal was often someone who self-glorified himself, by attributing the number of high-school laureates the school produced every year to his “leadership,” when his priority should be to improve the school’s perennial mediocre 50⁺% passing rate to 90⁺% for high school students, based on the caliber of students being admitted every year.

by MathPlus January 21, 2021

π

An irrational number that is traditionally defined with respect to the circle, such as the following:
The length of a semicircle of radius one unit.
The angle measure of a straight line segment in radians.
The number of times the perimeter of a circle is more than its diameter.

To help students appreciate π beyond the canned definition that it is the ratio of circumference to diameter, teachers ought to define it in terms of other quantities not related to the circle.

by MathPlus January 21, 2021

2π

The number of times the circumference of a circle is more than the radius of the circle.

If a radian is defined as the angle formed by an arc length of a circle subtended at the center that is equal to its radius, then there are 2π radians, or 2π radii, that fit around the circumference of the circle. In other words, 360° equals 2π radians, or one radian is 180°/π, which is about 57.3°.

by MathPlus January 21, 2021

MAGA

Short for “Make America Godly Again.” A mantra preached by a group of evangelical pastors, who had brainwashed diehard supporters of Trump, the “anointed one,” by proclaiming that there exists a parallel between Trump and Jesus, who have both come to deliver and save them—they need to stand up for Trump, who had selfishly used religious leaders as pawns and disinformation to incite an insurrection.

Evangelical leaders who risk losing (or have sold) their souls for grasping political power are preaching Trumpism or white supremacy under the flag of Christian nationalism—aren’t their preaching the political slogan MAGA, instead of the Magi, a stumbling block to millions of pre-believers of Christianity?

by MathPlus January 22, 2021

Not all vaccines are created equal.

When non-Western home-grown—half-baked or partially trialed—vaccines are shunned even by locals, which are often donated or exported at a discounted price to developing countries that can’t afford the “safer” ones produced by the West—the top three countries involved in this vaccine diplomacy game are China, India, and Russia, whose “cheap-and-cheat” vaccines do not exude much confidence among millions of targeted recipients.

Although the Chinese, Indian, or Russian vaccines are offered free of charge to them, millions of people in the developing world refuse to be jabbed, because they know too well that not all vaccines are created equal.

by MathPlus January 24, 2021

White Terrorist-in-Chief

The latest notorious title conferred on Donald J. Trump for the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, when his diehard supporters-turned-terrorists stormed the building, and threatened to kill the Vice President and endanger the lives of lawmakers.

Liar-in-Chief, Pinocchio-in-Chief, Divider-in-Chief, Faker-in-Chief, …, Pharisee-in-Chief, Hoaxer-in-Chief, Conspiracist-in-Chief, White Terrorist-in-Chief, it’s hard to imagine another rogue or fake leader collecting so many ignoble titles while in office, except perhaps for Kim Jong Un who has been honored with dozens of laughably flattery titles.

by MathPlus January 25, 2021

Trumpability

A mélange of bigotry, corruptibility, conspiracy, criminality, cruelty, dishonesty, idolatry, illegality, immorality, infidelity, insecurity, jealousy, religiosity, and treachery that characterize a white racist and supremacist.

Anyone flirting with trumpability isn’t too far from white terrorism, if they don’t get what they want by ethical or legal means.

by MathPlus January 28, 2021