MathPlus's definitions

Immoral Algebra

When a dishonest seller uses their finger or hand or some other means to tilt one side of a weighing balance to make the left and right sides of the scales look balanced to cheat the customer—a weight balance is often used as a metaphor for an algebraic equation.

God, the Great Mathematician, dislikes immoral algebra, but delights in accurate weights or honest scales.

by MathPlus May 19, 2021

Singapore Math Variants

Math titles plagued with brain-unfriendly questions to bedevil or challenge those who find that school textbooks in Singapore ill-prepare them to solve nonroutine or tricky questions—kiasu parents and tutors want to expose their children and students to fiendish or deadlier word problems to protect themselves against olympiad math questions, which have infected school exam papers in recent years.

Publishers are maniacally looking for Singapore math variants writers to meet the mathematical needs and wants of kiasu parents, who want their kids to have an unfair competitive edge over their peers.

by MathPlus May 19, 2021

Truth or Trump

The politically correct version of “Truth or Falsehood” among morally corrupt lawmakers, who are more afraid of man than God, or who are afraid of losing rather than doing their job; or among white blue-collar “evangelicals” or conspiracists who see the Liar-in-Chief or Pharisee-in-Chief as the “anointed” one to save them from the devil’s schemes.

In the “Truth or Trump” battle of conscience over the effort to investigate the January 6 Capitol insurrection, the score was: Trump 175 Truth 35—there were five times as many GOP members who voted to exonerate the Insurrectionist-in-Chief as those who voted to charge him.

by MathPlus May 20, 2021

Make Masks Mandatory Again

The call by medical personnel to half-hearted pro-Trump politicians in a number of red states that have started to witness a rise in corona infection in spite of the fact that more people are continually being vaccinated—a “proof” that vaccination doesn’t prevent infection or reinfection, and that mask-wearing is a necessary irritation until the population achieves herd immunity.

Should “Make Masks Mandatory Again” be elevated or promoted to an official slogan to educate patriots and conspiracists that they’d still wear a mask in public squares, especially when it’s difficult to practice social distancing in a crowded space?

by MathPlus May 22, 2021

Assroll

The last person to use the last piece of the toilet paper roll, with zero motivation to replace it, be it at home or in a public toilet.

Guesstimate the number of assrolls every day in the developed world, who expect their domestic workers at home, or toilet cleaners in public, to do the task for them.

by MathPlus May 23, 2021

Pie-in-the-Sky Pi

When pure mathematicians dream that the elegant proofs of their π-related theorems would increase the chances of landing their names in the Mathematical Book of Life, or could propel them into mathematical immortality.

It’s an unspoken desire among Fields medalists—the mathematical equivalent of Nobel Prize winners in mathematics—and first-rate mathematicians to achieve pie-in-the-sky pi dreams.

by MathPlus May 24, 2021

Pignant

When a woman is approximately π months pregnant, or is slightly past her first trimester.

When asked by her nosy colleagues whether she’s expecting a baby, Alice geekily told them that she’s pignant, much to their confusion by what she meant.

by MathPlus May 24, 2021