Mathematical Asylum

When people apply to become permanent residents or citizens of another country, because they continually face job discrimination from both local and foreign employers, or from their own elitist government—the good jobs are given to those who were born or blessed with the “mathematical gene.”

Like millions of asylum seekers from developing countries and theocratic states, who fear discrimination for being gay or a woman in their country of origin, what are the chances that in a-not-too-distant future, math-anxious or mathematically challenged folks might also apply for mathematical asylum to live in some anti-multicultural or anti-woke societies?

by Numerati September 26, 2023

Mathematical Heresy

The myth that you can do (almost) everything with math, or that being good at math or logic is a secure ticket to financial freedom, which is absolute bull if you look at the millions of exam-smart or geeky people who love math and have excelled in the subject, yet could hardly make ends meet.

Let not mathematical heresy blind you, because your love for numbers and their relationships more often than not doesn’t pay the bills nor guarantee you a decent job.

by Fasters March 19, 2023

Mathematical Wokeism

When ultra-MAGA Trumpublicans or white Christian nationalists are hell-bent to censor any math educator or publisher who dares to expose the whitewashing of math or math education throughout history, because allowing them to right any past mathematical wrongs or injustices committed by colonialists or imperialists would lay bare their selfish attempts to brainwash millions of children that the evolution of mathematical ideas is a white people’s contribution.

White supremacist or extremist math educators label mathematicians and math educators, who question the distorted or fake view of the history of mathematics, or who lecture about mathematical wokeism, as “mathematically toxic”—they’d be deprived of education funding for discussing that math is racist, or for condemning centuries-long white male privilege in academia.

by Fasters May 26, 2023

mathematical fallacy

Nerds like to use this when they procrastinate.

The mathematical fallacy 2 = 1 is a classic one, guess which step is incorrect:

Let x = y.
Multiply by x: x² = xy.
Subtract y²: x² − y² = xy − y².
Factorize: (x − y)(x + y) = y(x − y).
Divide by (x − y): x + y = y
Because x = y, replace all x's with y's: y + y = y
Simplify: 2y = y
Divide by y: 2 = 1

Did you see the incorrect step? Spoiler alert: it's the fifth one; you can't divide by (x − y), as that equals 0 (because x and y are equal), and you can't divide by zero.

by Lakitu's Cloud December 10, 2014

Mathematical Shrine

A shelf that displays your math memorabilia (abacuses, slide rules, polygonal stamps, math-related postcards, 3D wooden puzzles, topology toys, …) that are likely to be a topic of conversation as friends and strangers visit your home.

Ian’s mathematical shrine is made up of origami polyhedrons, magic card tricks, Napier’s rods, vintage calculators and clocks, and Lilliputian math books.

by Fasters February 24, 2022

Mathematical Orgy

An excessive use of numbers or statistics to quantify everything and everyone, be it in the collection of data in a census or survey, the use or misuse of analytics or metrics, and data harvesting by big tech companies, with the aim to brainwash or control people, and to influence their decisions and habits.

Both governments and media conglomerates haven’t ceased to indulge in mathematical orgy to track people’s likes and dislikes, emotions and moods, and fears and worries.

by Fasters April 18, 2023

Mathematical Grawlix

A string of typographical and mathematical symbols, such as $#√(-1)+ and ∫eˣ = f(uⁿ), used in place of an obscenity, especially among geeks on social media.

Which mathematical grawlix would you dare sending to your boss after you’ve submitted your resignation letter?

by Covido May 31, 2022