Back when the Internet was still a baby, the primary users were its creators, math and tech-oriented academics. So as a result, math jokes have an elemental role in the history of the web. Sure, funny TikToks and animal snapchats may have overshadowed them, but browse through a few geeky subreddits and Twitter hashtags and you will still find them.
Mathematician and author John Allen Paulos in his book Mathematics and Humor described several ways that mathematics — generally considered a dry, formal activity — overlaps with humor: both are forms of "intellectual play"; both have "logic, pattern, rules, structure"; and both are "economical and explicit". Bored Panda thinks the man definitely has a point, so we compiled the best math jokes we could find online to prove it. Continue scrolling and after you're done, tell us in the comments if you agree!
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Big Sad
Haha oh my gosh! That's pretty much true. I showed my math teacher this, she loved it.
In An Essay on Comedy (originally presented in 1877), George Meredith goes to the extreme of calling humor "comedy" just as Paulos goes to the extreme of calling jokes "humor", avoiding the common and pejorative associations attached to "jokes". But as Paul H. Grawe pointed out, Meredith is really talking about humor, specifically humor that takes at least a momentary mental calculation in order to catch it.
I Just Love This!
"Meredith’s discussion can be seen as recognizing at least three sub-forms of mental humor," Grawe wrote. "First, there is Incongruity, which Paulos early on indicates to be the center of all humor as far as he is concerned. In Incongruity, as we later empirically defined it, two things, ideas, or concepts are brought into collision with each other or into collision with a verbal structure. A drawing of a flat disk on a globe spindle and beneath the cartoon caption indicating this was Columbus’ first globe is humor of this second form, a thing — a dis — collided with an idea — a globe — but collided by the choice of words in the caption."
Gold
The second Meredithian form is Word Play, two words or verbal constructions are made to collide with one another. Consider this:
"Knock, knock," "Orange," "—Orange who?" "Orange you glad I'm not going to tell another one?"
The word "Orange" colliding with "Aren’t ya," which can often be pronounced similarly, is the joke.
It's Very Simple
The third Meredithian form is the Gotcha joke. It's is laughing at the form of humor. "Someone thinks he is smart or otherwise talented and acts on that talent. And then, it is made apparent that he wasn’t that smart or otherwise talented and is got for his effort," Grawe explained. Paulos' discussion, like Meredith's, is easily analyzable as covering Incongruity, Word Play, and Gotcha humor.
So probably even 19th-century thinkers understood that math can be an excellent vessel for humor.
My Dads Attempt At A Math Joke
That's why plants hate math. It gives them square roots, I just got that joke!
Symmetry Irl
Wait What?
Explosm rocks! But still, that "i love being mentally challenged." got me.
A Cringe-Worthy Meme
I'm So Full
XD This one got me. but by then, I would have bought a tread mill, and ate while I ran.
Simple Geometry Shapes
My Intellect Is Almost Frightening
My Friend Sent This To Me... I Love It But I Wish They Kept Going With A Few More Pi Digits
Disgusting Tans
Oh man, my math teacher probably wishes she could do that every time I stop paying attention.
He's In Trouble
Happy 1st Birthday
Turning All Odds Into Even
That's A Whole Lot Of Strawberries
OK, confession time - I left school at fifteen years old, forty nine years ago, and I didn't understand this one, so I had to look it up. I like it, though.
Just Why???
So This Literally Happened 2min Ago, Probably Will Never Make A Better Pun In My Life
Aaahhh... You Stupid Thing
They Said Math Can Be Found In Nature
I just know this comment will be useful later the buffalo's horn looks like the graph of -x^3
Uh Oh
Ooohhhhhh, I get it, it was entirely wrong, because he was measuring radius of a circle or something. right?(math is like torture)
Tanning With The Boys
now, I get a few of those, and they are hilarious, but honestly, its kind of true for some people.
Jeff Bezos' Secret
My Friend Once Asked Me If Mathematicians Just Masturbate To Algebra All Day
No One, Absolutely No One
Haha, Algebra Jokes..
Oh F
Yes, that is what all math teachers should do, and just explain to them what happened with curve.
It’s No Imagination
I Too Am Supportive Of Farmers
Some Jokes Are Older Than Humanity
Wow
(230-220)*0.5=5 and 230-(220*0.5)=120=(5*4*3*2*1)=5! so it works both ways
Teacher Had This In Her Classroom
Seems About Right To Me!
First Post
Marvel's Hot New Movie
XD I get it, but the movie is only 3 hours, it's not infinite...(sarcasm)
Where Is The Password ?!
ugh, thinking about the illusion makes me sick, but it's still pretty funny.
Can I Copy Your Homework?
Know Your Taylor
I think it depends on context, I doubt that second one can sing or dance!
Engineers Be Like
It Just Doesn’t Look Right
Just A Little Bit Better
Topology In The Morning
I See Nothing Wrong Here
Checks Out
F(U) = Ck^u
![When You Go On A Tangent In The Math Department And Are Asked To Sine Your Name [oc]](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/5fa50821cff5c_o8lh0amr9f741__700.jpg "When You Go On A Tangent In The Math Department And Are Asked To Sine Your Name [oc]")
Took Me Five Hours To Make...
LaTeX is Turing Complete, so that was stupid of your friend. A tar-pit, but Turing nonetheless.
A mathematician walks up to the bar, orders a pint. Another mathematician walks up to the bar, orders a half pint. Another mathematician walks up to the bar and orders a quarter pint... the bartender leans over and sees the line of mathematicians leading to the horizon. He sighs, slams down two pints on the bar and says, "Ok, you guys know your limits."
Q: why was the fraction worried about marrying the decimal? A: because she would have to convert
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My favorite one is this "There are 10 types of people in this world. The ones who get the binary system and the ones who don't" :)
Me either but I laughed anyway in case someone was looking.
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A mathematician walks up to the bar, orders a pint. Another mathematician walks up to the bar, orders a half pint. Another mathematician walks up to the bar and orders a quarter pint... the bartender leans over and sees the line of mathematicians leading to the horizon. He sighs, slams down two pints on the bar and says, "Ok, you guys know your limits."
Q: why was the fraction worried about marrying the decimal? A: because she would have to convert
Load More Replies... My favorite one is this "There are 10 types of people in this world. The ones who get the binary system and the ones who don't" :)
Me either but I laughed anyway in case someone was looking.
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