Out of Context Science
March 16, 2011 3:04 PM   Subscribe

Out of Context Science. (SLTumblr)
posted by kmz (14 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
I science, I like things out of context, and I like this.
posted by aubilenon at 3:27 PM on March 16, 2011


I, too, science, and this is great.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 4:17 PM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh, I needed this today! Thanks for the smiles and amusement! So fun.
posted by nickyskye at 4:35 PM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm a little scared about how many of these I remembered the original context for.

I like.
posted by ltracey at 4:48 PM on March 16, 2011


ex = f(un)
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:03 PM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


plus a constant
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:06 PM on March 16, 2011 [4 favorites]


I would enjoy this so much more—even if it made the entries drier—if the content were taken from peer-reviewed articles only. What's so unusual about a science blog saying something wacky to get eyeballs?
posted by Mapes at 5:48 PM on March 16, 2011


I approve of this.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:50 PM on March 16, 2011


∫ex = f(un)

I saw this, and my first thought was that it made no sense mathematically.
posted by kaibutsu at 6:01 PM on March 16, 2011


Metafilter: it grows until it drops off to mature into an Aliens inspired cyst that spits out 300 new little bastard parasites
posted by fleetmouse at 6:16 PM on March 16, 2011


my first thought was that it made no sense mathematically.

But it does. The left side of the equation is the integral of the exponential function ex. This integral is also ex, at least up to a constant. The right side of the equation is a function of a substitute variable, raised to the power n. The humor involves the confusion of the integral sign for an "S" symbol (although historically the integral sign was chosen to represent an "S", for "S"ummation), which results in the left-hand side being read as "SEX" and the right-hand side being read as FUN. The addendum "plus a constant" is a callback (in comedic terms) which suggests that fun sex results in a child.

Similar humor might be enjoyed by studying direction fields of first order differential equations, but then, if you have to explain a joke, it's really not all that funny.
posted by twoleftfeet at 8:29 PM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


A bunch of functions were at a party when a mad operator came barging in, shouting "I'm going to differentiate you! I'm going to differentiate you!" All the functions ran away screaming, except for one. The mad operator goes up to the function and shouts "why aren't you scared and running away? I'm going to differentiate you!" The function smugly replied: "I'm ex."

The differential operator then revealed: "Ah, but I'm d/dy!"
posted by kmz at 11:22 PM on March 16, 2011


If you define a function d of the variable d by the rule d(d) = d, where d is a constant, then dd/dd = d, up to a constant, usually represented by C.
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:42 PM on March 16, 2011


aubilenon: "I science, I like things out of context, and I like this"

Now I'm englishing that "science" should be a verb.
posted by chairface at 9:15 PM on March 18, 2011


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