How to solve this equation?

[Fireball]

^ That's a joke? 

[polymath257]

Hey, they don't even want arabic numbers to be taught in our school system......

A subject dealing group homo-morphisms would definitely be something they would dislike.

Math humor:

1. What's purple and commutes? An abelian grape.

2. What's yellow and equivalent to the axiom of choice? Zorn's lemon.

I think I have a by orders of magnitude funnier math joke (actually an anecdote from my student life), which I posted on Reddit:

Today, at the university (I study Computer Science), we were taught about the set theory. The professor (who is, by the way, called Radoslav Galić) was explaining to us why the cardinal number of a union of sets is not always equal to the sum of the cardinal number of sets in that union: "If that were true, a dog should have eight legs. A dog, namely, has two front legs, two hind legs, two left legs and two right legs. The sum of the cardinal numbers of those sets is eight (four times two), but the cardinal number of the union of those sets is, of course, four."

My joke is at least understandable to a broader audience, your jokes are not.

Sure. And there are various levels of math joke, from the mathematical spy that was caught because he was told the sine and didn't know the cosine. But that's off on a tangent.

Then there are the snakes on Noah's arc that didn't go forth to multiply be cause they were adders. But later, they had kids beside a fallen tree: adders can multiply by logs.

Then there is the proof that all horses are the same color (by induction). And the proof (like that above for dogs) that horses have at least 12 legs, which gives a horse of a different color, a contradiction.

[Jehanne]

I think I have a by orders of magnitude funnier math joke (actually an anecdote from my student life), which I posted on Reddit:

My joke is at least understandable to a broader audience, your jokes are not.

Sure. And there are various levels of math joke, from the mathematical spy that was caught because he was told the sine and didn't know the cosine. But that's off on a tangent.

Then there are the snakes on Noah's arc that didn't go forth to multiply be cause they were adders. But later, they had kids beside a fallen tree: adders can multiply by logs.

Then there is the proof that all horses are the same color (by induction). And the proof (like that above for dogs) that horses have at least 12 legs, which gives a horse of a different color, a contradiction.

The horse proof, of course, fails P(1) -> P(2). Also, we have the 0 = 1 proof courtesy division by zero.

[Silver]

How to solve this equation?

Burn it. Fire solves everything.

[polymath257]

Sure. And there are various levels of math joke, from the mathematical spy that was caught because he was told the sine and didn't know the cosine. But that's off on a tangent.

Then there are the snakes on Noah's arc that didn't go forth to multiply be cause they were adders. But later, they had kids beside a fallen tree: adders can multiply by logs.

Then there is the proof that all horses are the same color (by induction). And the proof (like that above for dogs) that horses have at least 12 legs, which gives a horse of a different color, a contradiction.

The horse proof, of course, fails P(1) -> P(2).  Also, we have the 0 = 1 proof courtesy division by zero.

Or that 1=2 by rearranging the alternating harmonic series. Or by a suitable integration by parts, forgetting the constant.

[Paleophyte]

Three scientists are sitting at a cafe idly watching the world go by. Across the street from them two people go into a house. A few minutes later three people come out.

"Did you see that?" shouts the biologist excitedly "They multiplied!"

"Poppycock!" scoffs the physicist "Our initial measurements were simply in error."

The mathematician looks up dreamily and says, "If one more person goes into that house it will be empty."

I told this joke to a mathematician once and was informed that the punchline is strictly accurate, at least to a mathematician.

[Ranjr]

My Call III class was taught by a Scotsman.  Truly.

"Do Pythagoras over a wee bitty, then add up all the wee bitties."  If only someone had explained it like that before.

[FlatAssembler]

mathematical spy that was caught because he was told the sine and didn't know the cosine.

I don't understand that joke either.

Then there are the snakes on Noah's arc that didn't go forth to multiply be cause they were adders. But later, they had kids beside a fallen tree: adders can multiply by logs.

I think I understand it, but I don't find it funny.

Then there is the proof that all horses are the same color (by induction). And the proof (like that above for dogs) that horses have at least 12 legs, which gives a horse of a different color, a contradiction.

Sorry, I do not understand what you are saying. If that was supposed to be funny, it is not.

[Jehanne]

mathematical spy that was caught because he was told the sine and didn't know the cosine.

I don't understand that joke either.

Then there are the snakes on Noah's arc that didn't go forth to multiply be cause they were adders. But later, they had kids beside a fallen tree: adders can multiply by logs.

I think I understand it, but I don't find it funny.

Then there is the proof that all horses are the same color (by induction). And the proof (like that above for dogs) that horses have at least 12 legs, which gives a horse of a different color, a contradiction.

Sorry, I do not understand what you are saying. If that was supposed to be funny, it is not.

Short of risque, it's the best that mathematicians (or anyone else), given the subject matter, can do.

[FlatAssembler]

I don't understand that joke either.
I think I understand it, but I don't find it funny.
Sorry, I do not understand what you are saying. If that was supposed to be funny, it is not.

Short of risque, it's the best that mathematicians (or anyone else), given the subject matter, can do.

What is "risque"?