MathPlus's definitions

The Dodo Is Alive!

When some Trumpists-turned-QAnonists still stranded on the volcanic island of Mauritius—who needed to concoct a half-believe story to gain public attention so that they could fly back home—told the locals that they spotted a big bird that resembled the flightless dodo in the middle of the night, when the country was still on lockdown, thus raising the infinitesimal hope that the Mauritian bird, thought extinct, is far from dead.

That “the dodo is alive!” sounds like a modern version of the biblical story of Jesus’ raising Lazarus, who had already been in the tomb for four days, from the dead—even if the big bird is long dead, who says that it can’t miraculously be resurrected?

by MathPlus December 12, 2020

Durianian

Someone who just loves eating the durian in spite of its pungent smell, which tastes like heaven to them—the only tropical fruit that is banned on Singapore’s public transport system.

Singapore secretly wants more of its citizens to be durianians, so that in the event of any of its unfriendly neighbors trying to pollute its limited air space with the fruit’s pungent smell, it’d minimize any potential “death by durian.”

by MathPlus January 1, 2019

Corona Convert

A hardcore Trumpist or QAnonist who had previously put their faith in the Pharisee-in-Chief for preaching that the pandemic is a hoax, and had refused to wear a face mask, but had since confessed the virus’s existence after contracting it, or being hospitalized.

Guesstimate how many corona converts failed to cheat death after realizing that they’d been conned by their Commander in Cheat.

by MathPlus January 10, 2021

Mathematical Virginity

You lose it when you experience your first Aha! moment—when you feel like parading yourself naked after being struck by an insight, or upon solving a difficult math problem.

Billy lost his mathematical virginity after he found an intuitive proof to the Pythagorean theorem.

by MathPlus October 5, 2017

Mathematical Sensitivity

When a math teacher decides not to hurt the feelings of their weak students, by insincerely using large numbers and symbols to grade their test paper—for example, a student receiving back their exam paper with a score of (√81)/90 or 4²/100, mistaking it for 81/100 or 42/100.

Some parents object to teachers’ “mathematical sensitivity” or fake feedback, preferring that they’d tell their child the painful truth how poorly they had performed in their math test.

by MathPlus November 30, 2020

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

Wi-Fi Idol

When someone spends an inordinate amount of time daily to keep themselves hooked to the internet that a slight withdrawal from social networks could trigger a “digital fit” in them, which would adversely affect their well-being.

Instead of treating the Wi-Fi as a blessing rather than a curse, Jane has allowed the Wi-fi idol to enslave her to the point that she’d need to go for spiritual deliverance to free her from digital addiction.

by MathPlus September 12, 2018