FoxTrot by Bill Amend for November 14, 2010

Ow. Math puns.

Thar’s funny, Random and Chaos don’t stand a chance.

I haven’t even gotten into logarithms yet, and I’m in college. So, they could have done something like make fun and light of the launches of Sonic Colors and/or The Last Airbender, but apparently not.

…

Why did the mathematician take drum lessons?

To provide a backbeat to the music of the spheres.

Sheesh, it is obvious, you take a log and make rhythm with it! Where is youse Englch?

Actually I think he took drum lessons because he enjoyed playing logarithms and blues.

@sandfan. Good one. I had never heard of The Spheres before.

DerkinsV. -

Very interesting on the curriculum. They taught logarithms and interpolation of them when I was in high school. But then, I’m 67, and they had barely invented calculus back then.

And, who are the Sonic Colors and the Last Airbender, BTW?

…it it too much to ask for a well thought out weekend gag from an artist that creates one comic a week?…

Alas, folks hardly need logarithms now that they have calculators that can multiply, divide, and handle roots and exponents. Fortunately, Jason appeals to the inner geek in some of us.

@jyakura: You are correct to a certain degree here, but many exponential equations can be solved more easily by using logarithms. For example, if you want to solve a compound interest problem to determine how long it will take you to double your money, you need logarithms or at least a graphing calculator. I am also a math geek who enjoys Jason. I am often surprised at how accurate this cartoon series really is. One of my favorites is the one about “Fibbonachos”.

@richardkel said, about 1 hour ago

“…if you want to solve a compound interest problem to determine how long it will take you to double your money, you need logarithms or at least a graphing calculator.”

I beg to differ. Such functionality was built into the HP financial calculator that I bought around 30 years ago. Non-graphing, basic LED display.

richardkel - You win. ‘Logarithms and blues’ is great.

@rpstrong: How do you think these calculators determined the correct answer here? Someone had to program the routine. I know that they didn’t derive the answer by magic. I had one of these calculators and they were cool, but they weren’t psychic.

Pythagoras was mainly famous for his theories in Geometry, i.e. spheres here. His most well-known theorem is the Pythatgorean Theorem regarding the sides of a right triangle. The Scottish mathematician John Napier (1550-1617) is credited with the invention of logarithms.

I thought logarithms was how lumberjacks practiced birth control….

Cool one, Radio Tom! I’ll have to remember that and repeat it to my students (probably not).

For clarification, Sonic Colors is the new Sonic game for Wii and DS (stuff it, 360 and PS3 owners!). The Last Airbender is M. Night Shyamalan’s remake of the Nicktoon of the similar name. Those would have been more entertaining things to make fun of than to just make fun of Paige’s ditziness again.

richardkel said, about 9 hours ago

@rpstrong: How do you think these calculators determined the correct answer here? Someone had to program the routine. I know that they didn’t derive the answer by magic. I had one of these calculators and they were cool, but they weren’t psychic.

This reminds me of a physics class, back when I was an engineering student. Calculators were in there infancy then; I still carried my dad’s HK slipstick in its leather scabbard. (To put the time further in perspective, I pre-ordered a TI-99 when it was offered a year later.)

The perfessor - Sam Olanoff - had just carried out a calculation on his slide rule, and some wise guy with a nixie tube calculator called out a greater precision answer.

Sam was willing to defend his answer, as we all new the principles of the slide rule.

But, he asked, how did the magic box divine its answer? Could the student explain it?

I was glad to read a few messages later that you were a teacher.

Anyway, my point was more pedantic: that you don’t need a “graphing calculator” to calculate future returns. Or an understanding of algorithms.

But I was glad to read your comments and I think your students are fortunate.

KEEP IT SIMPLE SWEETHEARTS just enjoy the good ones . we’re suffering from paralasis of analasis

I believe in the KISS principal too, but if you don’t understand the basics, how can you apply it?

Slide rule, anyone?

Because he wanted to improve his logarithms. Mxx