Math Jokes
July 16, 2007
Blame it on MathNotations and his Corny Math Jokes (which actually included one I hadn’t heard before) — or maybe I have been reading too many of Chickenfoot’s strange tales — but anyway, I’m in a mood for humor.
So here are a couple of old favorites:
- The Frivolous Theorem of Arithmetic
Almost all natural numbers are very, very, very large.- The First Strong Law of Small Numbers
There are not enough small numbers to meet the many demands made of them.
Hat tip: These had gotten lost in the dustbunnies of my memory until I saw the Frivolous Theorem mentioned recently at Art of Problem Solving.
Edited to add: Scott at Grey Matters recently updated his Mathematical Humor post, which may be where I had originally read these. He links to several more great MathWorld jokes, including the ever-tasty Pizza Theorem.
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3 Comments
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Why do I feel that this thread will generate far more interest than all of the challenges and rich math investigations we write! Maybe I really do need to lighten up! Thanks, Denise…
Dave
I think that is because a joke can be appreciated (or not!) immediately, while the investigations take time and effort. For instance, I printed out your Two Coordinate Problems: SATs and Geometry Enrichment post and Jonathan’s 4, 3, 2, 1 puzzle, but I still haven’t found the time to sit down and work through either of them. In the meantime, you have both put up new challenges that I have not even had time to read….
CORNY