FoxTrot by Bill Amend for November 02, 2008
Transcript:
Paige: Why do they make us study math in school? I hate it! Andy: Not now, Paige. I'm trying to think. Paige: It's not like I'm planning to go into astrophysics or something! Andy: I need to cut this quiche into five equal pieces. Paige: Give me one example where I'm ever going to use this junk I'm learning in geometry class! Just one! Andy: Let's see. A fifth of a circle is... is... Paige: Just cut it into 72-degree wedges and listen to me, mother! Andy: Thanks. Paige: OK, fine. Give me TWO examples. Andy: Oh, wait. Peter wanted his slice twice as big as the others...
margueritem about 16 years ago
Yeah, like I’m going to get out a ruler to measure pie slices…
Nipponkid about 16 years ago
Thats why theres guesstimating.
rayannina about 16 years ago
Somewhere, Danica McKellar is smiling.
Ray_C about 16 years ago
This is fabulous. My wife and I have been mentoring 5th graders for an hour a week, and this is their constant complaint: why do I have to study math? The second problem is really easier than the first. Cut the pie into six slices and give Peter 2. This makes 60 degree angles, which are easier to deal with. (You can skip one of the cuts to give Peter a single large piece rather than 2.) BTW, you would use a protractor to measure angles, not a ruler. Sorry to sound like a math geek, but I are one.
Calvinhobbes24 about 16 years ago
I gotta write that trick down.
Pwnage about 16 years ago
lol
margueritem about 16 years ago
RayC says: BTW, you would use a protractor to measure angles, not a ruler. Sorry to sound like a math geek, but I are one. OK, then. Yeah, like i’m going to get my protractor out to measure pie slices.
Ray_C about 16 years ago
margueritem says: ” Yeah, like i’m going to get my protractor out to measure pie slices.”
I would! But first I’d have to wash off the pizza sauce.
hcrobin85 about 16 years ago
many basic types of math are useful..what I don’t get is upper level math like trig or calculus..now there’s something you don’t need in real life!!!
metawarr566 about 16 years ago
“I are one?”
m_ortal about 16 years ago
Picture a clock. Every 5 minutes is 30 degrees, so 15 minutes is 90 degrees or a right angle. If you want 72 degrees, remember that each minute is 6 degrees, so 12 minutes on a clock face covers 72 degrees. BTW, we use trig and calculus as life-savers - if you can’t pass them, you don’t get into medical school.
bluetopazcrystal about 16 years ago
I guess RayC is a math geek not a literacy follower.LOL.
Sternvogel about 16 years ago
There are a lot of T-shirts printed with slogans like “I are getting an educayshun at State U” or “I never thought I’d be a college graduate, but now I are an English teacher!”
I’m guessing Ray C was thinking in that vein, although it would have been even funnier had he said “but I are two”, thus being both gramatically and mathematically incorrect!
IDIOTIDIOTIDIOT about 16 years ago
funny. common scenario at my house.
Ray_C about 16 years ago
Sternvogel says: “There are a lot of T-shirts printed with slogans like “I are getting an educayshun at State U” or “I never thought I’d be a college graduate, but now I are an English teacher!” ” I’m guessing Ray C was thinking in that vein, although it would have been even funnier had he said “but I are two”, thus being both gramatically and mathematically incorrect! Thanks for standing up for me, Sternvogel. I was thinking of the tee shirt, “Last year I cudn’t even spell injuneer, and today I are one.” Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.
margueritem about 16 years ago
Ray C says:
Sternvogel says: “There are a lot of T-shirts printed with slogans like “I are getting an educayshun at State U” or “I never thought I’d be a college graduate, but now I are an English teacher!” ” I’m guessing Ray C was thinking in that vein, although it would have been even funnier had he said “but I are two”, thus being both gramatically and mathematically incorrect! Thanks for standing up for me, Sternvogel. I was thinking of the tee shirt, “Last year I cudn’t even spell injuneer, and today I are one.” Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.
I understood what you meant. Like minds, I guess.
zerotsm about 16 years ago
Well, I use trig all the time, calculus less so, but that’s for work, not “real life”.
circuit7 about 16 years ago
I call my kids whenever I find myself needing it at home. They don’t always know the answer but when I show them, they know. From my 19yo to my 6yo, the question “Why study math” has never been asked in my house.
mrhippey about 16 years ago
Math IS everywhere. AND The point of learning math is not the same as learning how to write. Math teaches abstract thinking - a skill that is utilized in many different fields.
–Journalist (also Wife of a High School Math Teacher)
LateToTheGame about 16 years ago
Actually Marguerite, you’d want a protractor, or maybe even a compass if you wanted to challenge yourself. Not much could be done with a ruler. :)
Llywus about 16 years ago
Not much could be done with a ruler. :) As a straightedge - gotta get those slices cut cleanly! lol
tobybartels about 16 years ago
Using only an unmarked compass and straightedge, can you make 72-degree angles? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass%20and%20straightedge%20construction
danalfranks about 16 years ago
This is no joke… I just watched my math major sister cut my dad’s birthday pie into equal pieces for 9 dinner guests. Stared at it a moment, went to work, and it came out perfectly. Geesh!
Calvins_older_Sister about 16 years ago
i know that feeling so well -o- “sigh”
jabo about 16 years ago
Substitute by the WHO! Jabo
mathhead about 16 years ago
Why do they make us study math is school?
seapilot about 16 years ago
notice how the leaf in the picture in the background flips around in the different pannels?
Requin about 16 years ago
I wouldn’t be able to live without math <3
runar about 16 years ago
Jason would have solved the problem using something other than base ten.
KingRat about 16 years ago
and if peter solved it there would be no pie.
MusicLoveTheatre17 about 16 years ago
este es uno de mis cómics favoritos en el mundo entero! Estoy totalmente de amor este comic porque me hace reír!
abel_larkin about 16 years ago
Equal Angles
theoneandonlyliam236 almost 5 years ago
Is no one going to give the answer?Ok I will, cut it in four 60 degree slices, and then a fifth slice that is 120 degrees. Just in case someone hasn’t learned that math yet lol,
Exodush over 4 years ago
i thought paige was stupid
The Ever-Convenient Object's Shopping Mall about 4 years ago
Cutting it into six slices is easy, then just give Peter two of them.