Bounds

A Venn diagram of "Upper Bounds" and "Lower Bounds". The small intersection represents over 90% of mathematics education.

Another entry in the “Distorted Prevalence of Mathematical Concepts” collection, beside “Closed Form Answers”.

10 Apr 2024

Powerhouse

A science communication teacher says to their class, "And as a final reminder to all you budding science communicators: avoid clichés like the plague. (Pause) Except?" The class responds enthusiastically, "The mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell!" The teacher: "I've taught you well."

If you hear the word “powerhouse”, we’re either talking about mitochondria or sports.

03 Apr 2024

Research Career Roadmap

A recipe for a research career. Step 1: Invent a new technique (represented by a triangle). Step 2: Apply it to all of the previous literature. Step 3: Exploit combinatorial explosion.

Then come up with a slightly modified version of your original technique and repeat!

27 Mar 2024

Friends

A graph of "Ability to get out of your head" versus "Friends". As you get more friends, it's easier to get out of your head.

Likewise, be that person for someone else.

20 Mar 2024

URLs

Left panel (In the past): A person walks up to a signpost that clearly says, "website.com/post". They say, "Ah, that's where I'm going!" Right panel (Now): The person approaches a much larger signpost, which says, "website.com/redirect/68arbxQ-13flGB73r-b7wTFz8XDghbMpfeU4ovL9j..." They say, "Where the hell is this?!"

Am I the only one who likes to know where I’m going when I click a link?

13 Mar 2024

Lead By Example

A long procession of cars is behind me, with several of them honking and beeping. The caption: Me, helping everyone follow the speed limit.

Leaders are always misunderstood.

06 Mar 2024

Calendar Ping Pong

A classic game of "Pong", but the two paddles represent my calendar and your calendar. There are a lot of exchanges.

If the rally goes on too long for a time-sensitive issue, the issue goes away!

28 Feb 2024

Optimal Arrival

A timeline of arriving to a meeting. Around 5 minutes before the meeting is when you should arrive for physical meetings. There's an inset graph near the time of the meeting starts, which shows how you enter a virtual meeting only seconds before the meeting time.

If you arrive more than five seconds before the meeting, there are no established rules of etiquette.

21 Feb 2024

Relative

Left panel (As a student): A student pumps her fist and says, "I have to get this expression exactly right!" Right panel (As a theorist): She puts out a hand and asks, "What's a constant between friends?"

“How can I put in the least effort to answer my question?”

14 Feb 2024

Cramming In

A professor in front of the room says, "It's the last class of the term, but I'll at least introduce this topic." A student raises his hand and asks, "So it won't be on the final?" She responds, "Oh yes, of course it will be a big component." (Pause) "It's also pretty hard."

“Just look at these notes that I’ll post three days before the exam but never explain. You’ll get all the ideas there.”

07 Feb 2024

To the past To the present