Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Figure Density

A plot of "Comprehension" versus "Information in a figure". The curve goes up, reaches a peak, and then asymptotes back to zero. As the curve asymptotes, there's a vertical dashed line, and on the right I've labelled, "Most scientific figures".

“I know what we can do. We can split up the figure!”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. Now, each figure can tell its own story–”

“We can make an awesome multi-panel figure!”

20 Apr 2022

Thought Organization

Left (Caption: Ordered): A person with a visualization of the thoughts in their head. They are all ordered. Right (Caption: Disordered): This person's thoughts are all disordered in their head, looking very messy. There's an arrow pointing to the person's thoughts labelled, "Thoughts in my head".

The best part is when they start looping.

18 Apr 2022

Perfect

Left panel (Caption: In my head): A sun-like object with the words "My perfect idea" in the centre. Right panel (Caption: Out in the world): Me with my idea, showing it to someone else. We're both at a desk, with my friend crossing their arms and not saying anything. I say, "But it looked so great in my mind!"

Happens to me every time.

15 Apr 2022

The Right Book

Left panel: A person clenching their fist says, "I'm going to read more books!" Right panel (Caption: Five hours later): A friend comes up to the person, who is sitting at their desk on their laptop. The friend asks, "So, what are you reading?" The person replies, "Oh, nothing. I haven't found the right book."

The solution? Spend ten more hours browsing book recommendations!

13 Apr 2022

Reminders

A one dimensional axis labelled "Number of emails", increasing to the right. On the left, there's an "X" which says, "Collaborators and messages you want", while on the right, there's an "X" which says, "Reminders for events". Caption: I never hesitate to delete reminders, because I'll just get ten more.

As the event approaches, the number of emails asymptotes to infinity.

11 Apr 2022

Measurement Problem

Left panel: A professor stands at the board and addresses the class. "Even though you are all theoretical physicists, it's good to have contact with the experimental side of things. So how would you propose we measure this quantity in an experiment?" Right panel: A student answers, "Um, we ask the experimenters?" The professor says, "Not what I was going for, but that probably is the practical thing to do."

Theoretical physicists are nothing if not resourceful.

08 Apr 2022

Depth

A one-dimensional graph with the axis being "Depth of knowledge". On the far left, there's the "Beginner". Then there's "Advanced", followed by "Finishing a PhD thesis", with "Crazy" just after.

Are you sure that digging into one topic for so long is a good example of “work-life balance”?

06 Apr 2022

Tag Along

A person labelled "Mathematics" says, "Do you need to tag along with everything?" The person labelled "Physics" responds, "It's just a coincidence!"

“It just so happens that everything you do has applications in the real world!”

04 Apr 2022

Motivation

Left panel (Intrinsic): A person sits with a book and says, "I just love reading!" Middle panel (Extrinsic): A mother says to their child, "If you read your book, we'll go out for ice cream." Right panel (Textbook): A book with a caption saying, "A strange historical anecdote that has little relevance anymore."

The last panel always makes me think of how my first quantum theory courses began with going the “historical route”.

01 Apr 2022

Exposition Problem

Left panel (Research): Scientific leader says to a researcher, "This is a great discovery!" Right panel (Exposition): Leader says to another researcher, "Could you focus more on new discoveries than research?"

If only we placed as much emphasis on creating good exposition.

30 Mar 2022