Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Extra Credit

On the left, a regular scientist says, "My work will be important for society." On the right, the physicist says, "My work is crucial for *everything*, inlcuding your work."

We’re a modest bunch.

01 Dec 2021

Reciprocal

A graph of the time you have for a given project versus the number of projects. The function is an inverse power-law decay, so more projects means less time per project.

You might think this is just your average inverse relationship, but it’s probably closer to the inverse of some power. Don’t discount the switching costs!

29 Nov 2021

Organized

First panel: A male and female scientist walk together. The male scientist asks, "Can you explain in more detail?" The female scientist responds and points, "Sure, it's all over there." Second panel: The two scientists stand beside a large pile of unorganized information. The male scientist says, "That's just a pile of unorganized information!" The female scientist replies, "Did you expect me to arrange it for you? That's cute."

“I have to make you work for it!”

26 Nov 2021

Missing Pieces

A person sits down at a table with a puzzle that's a scientific paper, and exclaims, "How could they ship me a puzzle without all the puzzles?!"

To find the missing piece, please consult puzzle 315.

24 Nov 2021

Terms

A Venn diagram indicating sections which are "Roughly Speaking" and "Loosely Speaking". In "Roughly Speaking", there's a singer's 'gargling glass' voice. In "Loosely Speaking", there's talking while drunk. The intersection is terms mathematics and physicists use.

I mean, this is only roughly accurate.

22 Nov 2021

Holding

A scientist balancing many boxes on their head, including papers, data, code, and ideas. The scientist says, "I can hold this all at once." Caption: What happens when you don't document your research.

Those computer programmers were up to something with that whole commenting system for code.

19 Nov 2021

First-Person Plural

A paper with the title "A simple classification of particles", by Martina Laner. The abstract reads, "In this work, we present a new scheme for the known particles. We offer new predictions..." Caption: I love how single authors use the first-person plural.

Apologies to any scientists named Martina Laner out there!

17 Nov 2021

Collision Problem

A Venn diagram with two circles. The first is the things I like, while the second is the things the people I talk to like. In my circle, I'm asking, "Why don't you like the same things I do?" In the other circle, another person responds, "I could ask the same." The intersection of both circles is a very small sliver, with the label, "Finding this intersection in a conversation is my NP-hard problem."

If only we had the time to go through each topic, one by one.

15 Nov 2021

Deep

Three panels. Student Panel: A student stands in a small hole in the ground, and says, "I think I have a deep understanding." Professional Panel: A professional stands in a deeper hole, and says, "I know I have a deep understanding." Master Panel: Only the top half of the master shows, holding a shovel while digging a deeper hole, and says, "How deep can I go?"

Even after studying a topic for a long while, it’s a pleasure to be surprised by a new perspective on it.

Keep digging.

12 Nov 2021

Light Cone

A spacetime diagram with space on the horizontal axis and time on the vertical axis. A large dot in the middle is the moment a new result enters the literature. The light cone shows the maximum speed at which the result can diffuse through the community. But underneath the light cone is where some people assume others heard of a result.

“You haven’t heard of this new result?!”

“No, could you tell me where to look for it?”

“Yeah…oh wait, it’s not published yet.”

10 Nov 2021