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Numbers are fun. Wait, no, don’t run away, Pandas! Please come back! Even though some of us might have PTSD flashbacks to math class whenever we’re forced to do anything more difficult than basic sums, there’s no denying how impressive genuine math skills can be.

And some math wonders take numbers very seriously, doing (probably) unnecessary calculations that are very impressive. The r/theydidthemath subreddit (not to be confused with its polar opposite, r/theydidndothemath) is the place for math-lovers to flex their skills in real-world situations.

We’ve collected some of the biggest math dunks from people who really took their time and did the math, so check ‘em out. Upvote your fave images as you scroll down and let us know in the comments about the awesome times that math proved incredibly useful.

Discover more in 53 Times People Actually 'Did The Math' And Found Out These Interesting Things

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#1

Serving Up Some Math To A Twitter Hypocrite

Black and white cartoon showing people dancing and others filming on phones, highlighting interesting math observations.

BehindMySarcasm Report

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    #2

    Bezos vs. Metallica

    Twitter conversation highlighting people who did the math comparing donations by Bezos and Metallica relative to their net worth.

    emissaryofwinds Report

    #3

    Gasoline

    Man humorously pretending to drink gasoline from a fuel pump illustrating interesting math facts about calories.

    lasssdi Report

    Patrick Flood
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is actually wrong . It's 8 thousand calories per liter. They are using small calories not food calories. This is either an honest mistake or intellectually dishonest to sound profound.

    Over 697k people make up the r/theydidthemath community and it’s been active since the Spring of 2013. Since then, they’ve partnered up and made friends with lots of other math and science-related subreddits that show the joys of being competent in your field and mixing that with a good sense of humor.

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    The r/theydidthemath subreddit isn’t just for showing off, though. It’s a friendly community that encourages people to ask for help from its members with any math-related problems that are making their lives miserable.

    #4

    The Turtle Is Faster

    USPS customer detailed slow delivery by calculating turtle speed and mail transit times in a math-based complaint.

    Fatsodaisy29 Report

    #5

    Pineapples

    Text conversation discussing math about pineapple sizes and sharing fruit, illustrating interesting math facts discovered.

    rogercoutts2 Report

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    #6

    So, About All Those "Lazy, Entitled" Millenials...

    Statistics showing the daily minimum wage hours needed to pay for college tuition, highlighting math calculations.

    arrybfg Report

    Like with all things in life, getting good at math means putting in the time and practicing. You could have the best tutors, the brightest study buddies, and the most brilliant textbooks by your side (they certainly don’t hurt), but at the end of the day it all comes down to you sitting down and solving problems the old fashioned way.

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    With a sharpened pencil. A piece of paper. And an eraser the size of your headache. It’s about focused, smart, and daily practice. I’ll be completely honest with you for a moment: every single time that I was falling behind in math class, I’d get my grades back up when I put in genuine effort.

    #7

    A Whale Died With 64 Lbs Of Plastic In Its Stomach

    Post explaining whale plastic consumption with math comparisons, demonstrating interesting things people actually did the math on.

    misSxWartooth Report

    #8

    Approximately Speaking, Is This Correct?

    Tweet showing math calculations comparing $5 billion for a wall versus funding for crisis relief and solar farms.

    0–14 years: 18.73% (male 31,255,995/female 29,919,938)
    15–24 years: 13.27% (male 22,213,952/female 21,137,826)
    so 32% of the U.S.A. are between 0-24.
    Assuming an equal distribution and only kids between 6-18 go to school we have around 16% of 6-18 year olds (12 years from a span of 24 years).
    Assuming EVERY KID at any given time has to be in a class that means there is one teacher for every 15 kids or so. (Only public school). That's a lot of teachers.

    Zbox01 Report

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    #9

    Is This Correct?

    Tweet showing a math calculation about wealth concentration and earnings over time from a popular social media user.

    Because our years are based around Jesus, and we are barely in to this year, I will say it has been 2019 years since Jesus’ birth. There are 8,760 hours in a year, and if you work 8 hours a day, every day, you will work about 2,920 hours a year. 2,920 hours a year for 2019 years is 5,895,480 hours in total. If you make 2,000 dollars each hour for 5,895,480 hours, you will make $11,790,960,000.
    According to Forbes there will be 39 people richer than you

    Unknown_legend34 Report

    But I’d never have made it if I didn’t have some incredibly friendly math sorcerers by my side, explaining things to me like I was 5 years old. Once you get the logic behind why certain calculations work like they do, things come more naturally… until you hit the next big roadblock. Hey, we can’t all be great at math (and I peaked in that area in the 3rd grade, unlike those who take their time and Do. The. Math.).

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    #10

    Is This True?

    Math breakdown showing how seizing billionaire wealth could end world hunger and impact climate change by 2030.

    According to wikipedia, there are 2153 billionaires. They have a combined wealth of $8.7 Trillion. Subtracting $1B for each from that total leaves $6.547 T. So thats roughly correct, if a little bit low.

    lts_LlT Report

    #11

    Jasmine And Aladdin

    Scene from Aladdin paired with math calculations analyzing travel speed between Egypt and Greece, showcasing interesting math findings.

    InnocuousCyanide Report

    #12

    Triganarchy

    Mathematical equations and graph illustrating interesting math concepts and calculations on a wall and coordinate plane.

    katsumiblisk Report

    #13

    Smart Did It As A Comeback

    Tweet thread showing math calculations on how many bird droppings it takes to damage a Smart car, highlighting people actually did the math.

    Vinccool96 Report

    #14

    What Would The WiFi Password Be?

    Math equation for free Wi-Fi password challenge illustrating people actually did the math to find interesting results.

    π.

    plznotmesir Report

    ascendis
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    if anyone gets the answer let me know please

    #15

    Have I Eaten A Full Cow?

    Twitter conversation calculating average beef consumption and steer weight with people actually doing the math on statistics and portion sizes.

    ZylkaLeftridge Report

    Helen Rohrlach
    Community Member
    3 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Did the research AND cited his sources.

    Never miss a story that brings joy to the world. Follow on Google News

    #16

    What Are The Odds Of Guessing It Right?

    Tweet screenshot showing a humorous story as people actually did the math about a mistaken identity on a train.

    Let's assume this is the USA. There were 165.92 million women and girls in the USA as of 2017. There's been some variation in the number of "Amandas" in the USA across sources, but 778,954 seems to be near the middle. That means around 0.4695% of the female population is named Amanda, and OP had a 0.4695% chance of who he called "Amanda" actually being named Amanda.

    xinxilope Report

    #17

    Sonic The Mass Baby Murderer

    Sonic the Hedgehog movie post with a detailed comment showing how people actually did the math on its impact.

    Bennyboy1337 Report

    #18

    Futurama Does The Math

    Scene from animated show with characters doing the math to find the number of paces needed, calculator shows result one.

    poliscijunki Report

    #19

    When Your Barber Doesn't Study Math

    Man with a mathematical haircut styled as a graph line, showcasing people who actually did the math in a humorous way.

    gryffin__dork Report

    #20

    1 In 12 Chance Of Dying In Office

    Screenshot of a social media discussion where people did the math on presidential assassination and job dangers.

    JPL7 Report

    #21

    The Force Of A Carrot Falling At Terminal Velocity

    Person dropping supplies from a plane to feed animals after bushfire, showing math about carrot terminal velocity.

    First : the terminal velocity of a carrot is NOT 147 mph A carrot has the same density as a human.
    A human terminal velocity falling head first is approx 120 mph. The terminal velocity of two similar things falling is greater for something big because it has less friction by lbs than for something small. So a carrot can not fall that fast.
    Second : the carrot will fall with the large side first. The thin part has more drag. Think of a drop falling. It's the same principe an you can try it by throwing a hammer.
    Third : the force depends of the duration of the impact so it will have a greater force if it hit concrete and a lower force if it hit mud.
    We need to calculate the kinetic energy If we take 0,1kg and 50mph (80km/h=22m/s) wich is more realistic as a final velocity we have E= 0,5mv2 E=0,50,122*22 E=24J
    24J will probably hurt you way way less than a punch.

    Leugim7734 Report

    #22

    Super Soaker Math

    User humorously calculates the high cost of filling a Nerf gun with printer ink, showcasing interesting math findings.

    7olenge Report

    #23

    The One Time I Was Actually Intrigued On Doing The Math Myself

    Man calculating time to become billionaire by receiving pennies using interesting math facts shared online.

    reddit.com Report

    #24

    Spongebob Lowkey Ripped

    SpongeBob lifting weights with a math calculation comparing kitchen sponge and teddy bear weights for interesting math facts.

    koopasrock Report

    #26

    That’s A Lot Of Trees

    Man wearing mask working in dense green field, illustrating people doing the math about trees planted and employment.

    Lefty21 Report

    #27

    Haircuts

    Side-by-side photos showing a haircut fail, humorously illustrating people who did the math with surprising results.

    Caamsworth Report

    #28

    How Many Nuggets Would This Be In Total?

    Tweet showing a math fact about finding 11 nuggets in almost every 10-piece McDonald’s order, highlighting interesting math discoveries.

    2.3 billion nuggets sold per year in America by 375,000 workers, hence each worker makes 613 nugget portions per year. This would mean he served an extra 613 nuggets over the course of one year, hence
    1,533 extra nuggets in total.

    F**kretails Report

    #29

    The Number Of Plants Needed To Replace The Oxygen You Waste

    Social media post showing a math-related comment about carrying a plant to replace wasted oxygen in math discussions.

    Humans consume anywhere from 20-30 liters of pure oxygen per hour. A leaf will typically give off 5 milliliters (.005L) of oxygen per hour. 20 liters consumed divided by .005 liters produced comes out to 4,000 leaves minimum, which comes out to 80 50-leaf plants.

    bthnp Report

    #30

    How Much Money Would Cost 71,000 Vhs?

    Woman in pink sweater with text about Marion Stokes' 71,000 VHS tapes, showcasing interesting math and collection facts.

    I'm gonna presume she bought tapes in bulk and made use of any available clearances and discounts. Based solely on this article I found from 1996, it seems that if you looked for a good sale you could get blank tapes at around $2 apiece in 1996, which is about $3.20 in today's money.
    Using that as a baseline, it would have been around $230,000 over the years.
    I imagine with buying that much she's could probably find somewhere with even cheaper prices, so it could have been even half that, but it's in the ballpark of the price of a house.

    alexishdez_lmL Report

    #31

    How Many Cigarettes Would It Take?

    Image showing a meme about calculating life lost per cigarette smoked and humorous math related to Queen Elizabeth II.

    Well it depends on when she would die without it. But let's say she has the biological/genetical prerequisites to become 100, based on how old her Mum was when she died, this doesn't even seem too unexpected (I hope I am not jinxing it). She would turn 114 in 2040. So we need to calculate how many cigarettes give her 14 years.
    14 years are 7363440 minutes, including leap years. Those are 920430 cigarettes. Almost 1 Million. From 2020 on, smoking 126 cigarettes a day until 2040 would suffice. Those are 6 packs of 21 cigarettes. Oof. While 6 packs are excessive, it could be possible. Assuming he is awake 18 hrs per day, he needs to smoke 7 per hour. Still a lot of work.
    Remember that he has to finish not in 2026, as the extra lifetime is not needed completely when she turns 100. Basically finishing a cigarette seconds before she would die would be good enough, she would be alive for 8 more minutes, and he would have 8 minutes to smoke the next one.

    Mrlagalot Report

    #32

    Swimming In PUBG Is Faster Than Michael Phelps

    Text message conversation analyzing swimming speed with actual math calculations comparing game character speed to Michael Phelps.

    shortdwarf Report

    #33

    Is This Shoe Size Accurate?

    Man sitting inside giant slipper sent by company after custom size order, a funny example from people who did the math.

    The shoe would be more than 40ft (12m) long so this doesn't appear to be true.
    The UK shoes measurements are very close to the US measurements so I didn't bother checking that possibility.

    doctorqwill Report

    #34

    Powering The World With Solar Panels

    Map showing total area of solar panels needed to power the world, Europe, and Germany illustrating people doing the math.

    Okay. Worl wide energy consumption is roughly 21 trillion kwh. Solar energy in the Sahara produces 2350kwh per square metre. This means we need a space of roughly 9000 square kilometres. This is roughly 0,1 percent of saharas total space. This checks out with the claim of the creator of this image. So this is accurate but the big problem with that is, that you cant transport this much energy over a wide range.

    KarlGustavderUnspak Report

    #35

    What Would Be The Speed If It Was Scale Up To Real Horse Size?

    Tweet discussing a math-related observation about the speed comparison between a stuffed horse and a commercial aircraft.

    So apparently Woody is 15.18 inches tall without his hat, and Bullseye looks to be just over half that to the shoulder, so I’ll say 8 inches. A quarter horse (as cowboys would’ve ridden) typically stood at 14-2 to 17 hands tall to the shoulder (56 to 68 inches), but even if scaled-up Bullseye is the shortest possible, this scale would make real-person Woody well over nine feet tall. As this seems unlikely, I’ll take scaled-up Bullseye’s height to the shoulder to be 1 metre for convenience, making scaled-up Bullseye 4.92 times bigger than toy Bullseye.
    Jet airliners typically take off at speed of 150-177mph (I was going to use a Boeing 767-300F as the plane, but wasn’t able to find a takeoff speed). The plane in the movie takes off not long after Bullseye stops, so I’ll say it was moving at 140mph. Scaled-up Bullseye, therefore, could run at 140*4.92=689mph. For reference, the speed of sound at sea level is 767mph. Transonic horse. How about that.

    crystals148 Report

    #36

    How Much Was This Ramen Actually Worth?

    Truck carrying ramen noodles crashes under bridge with estimated loss calculated by people who did the math.

    This is from a previous post and user u/srappe:
    Given a standard 53' trailer:
    According to http://www.wbmcguire.com/links/Guides/TruckTrailerGuide.pdf, A 53' trailer has interior dimensions of 47'6" x 98.5" x 107.375" and a capacity of 3,489 cubic feet.
    A 24 ct. box of Ramen Noodles has dimensions of 15" x 12" x 12" or a volume of 1.25 cubic feet.
    u/Goldencaramel pointed out that I need to take in account for the pallets.
    Pallets are 40" x 48" x 5" roughly. If the floor of the trailer has dimensions as listed above, you can fit 14 pallets lengthwise, and 2 width-wise. On the pallet itself, you can stack roughly 3 boxes of Ramen width-wise (40/12 = 3.33), 3 length-wise (48/15 = 3.2), and 4 height wise in order to be able to stack 2 pallets high in the truck (4*12 = 48). This gives the pallet, with the product a height of 53". Given the height of a trailer is 107.375", you can stack two pallets on top of each other with this packing method.
    Therefore, you can fit 56 (14 x 2 x 2) pallets, each carrying 36 (3 x 3 x 4) boxes of Ramen into the truck
    This means the maximum number of 24 ct. boxes of Ramen you can fit in a 53' trailer with pallets is 2016 (56 x 36)
    These boxes sell at ~$12 at my local BJ's which means that the trailer would have a consumer value of about $24,192 (2016 * $12)
    Now according to several people, you wouldn't stack pallets containing a product so fragile on top of one another. Also, according to a fellow freight broker, you can only fit 26 pallets in a trailer.
    Re-do the math for a more "real-world" cost estimate and you come out to:
    2636$12 = $11,232

    armsofasquid Report

    #37

    How Much A Retweet Cost

    Screenshot of a tweet revealing the actual cost of a retweet in bytes and dollars, showcasing interesting math calculations.

    phyneex Report

    #38

    How Big A Hot Air Balloon Would Need To Be To Hoist A Normal Person Like In The Image?

    Vintage illustration of people doing lake-walking with balloons, showcasing an interesting math-inspired future prediction.

    With air at 100C in the ballon and airdensity normal 1.2kg/m3 And at 100C 0.93 kg/m3
    That gets us to 0.27 kg carried by 1 m3 Average human 80kg =ballonsize 80/0.27=296,3 m3
    So about 300 cubic meters per person...

    HushZero Report

    #39

    How Many Years Until His Forehead Reaches Space

    Side-by-side photos from 1995 and 2015 showing math findings about forehead size increase over 20 years.

    Space is 62miles above earth. 62 miles = 3,928,320 inches In 20 years, his forehead grew 4 inches. That’s .2 inches a year. It would take 19,641,600 years to reach space.

    ChessieDog Report

    #40

    Got Banned For Doing The Math On R/Conservative

    Reddit users doing the math on Joe Biden’s teleprompter size in Detroit compared to the crowd view.

    Kryxan Report

    #41

    How Much Cheese Would This Waitress Have Gone Through?

    Tweet about a waitress grating cheese for hours paired with a meme showing inspiration, related to people doing the math.

    It takes two minutes to grate 227g of cheese. That's 6.81kg of cheese per hour - that is, 88.53kg or 195.18lbs of cheese on Mr. Delanche's plate.


    RaspberryNarwhal Report

    #42

    How Accurate Is This?

    Illustration showing riot gear load equals full PPE for 55 frontline care workers, highlighting interesting math calculations.

    Thats close to correct. The helm is $170, Body armor is $124, Shield is $131, Body pouch is $30, Pepper spray is $16, Mask + Gloves are $70, Baton is $55, Non-lethal is $98, Rubber bullets $60,
    Total= $854 per person...
    Cover all is $3 {$75.73(with tax) for 25 people}, Mask is $8 {$160 for 20 people}, Face shield $2.70 {$135 for 50 people}, Gloves are $0.30 {$134.76 for 1000 people}, Thr appron is $0.50 {$48.92 for 100 people},
    Total = $14.50 per person...
    $854(1 person) ÷ 14.50(1 person) = 59.97.....
    There are 59.97 (59 or 60) peoples worth of ppe coverage in 1 riot gear.........
    Prices may vary state to state

    theblackjesus666 Report

    Patrick Flood
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Riot gear load our comes to 754 not 854. While trying to be a smart a*s you overshot your count by 100.