Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Away

Time needed to get back into a coding project versus time away from it. The graph starts negative, since I spend even my off-time thinking about it. But after a certain threshold, there's a phase transition where you end up wondering if you even wrote it.

I’m just beginning my two-week vacation now, so we’ll see how it goes when I return!

Storage

A bird looking at a human: "Wow, that big brain is amazing! You must do a lot with it?" Human: "Nah, I use it mostly as a storage bin."

I do sometimes try to use it for creativity.

Data Collection

Left panel: The black box computer says, "Here are your results after eight hours of computation." The student says, "Thanks!". Right panel: The student says, "So I finished collecting the data." The professor says, "Oh, why don't you try this small tweak?"

The number of “small tweaks” asked of you is inversely proportional to the effort needed to implement them.

Flow

Two skiers. The one at the top: "This seems a little dangerous..." The one already zooming down: "Just go with the flow!" Caption: Rigour meets handwaving.

Or is it the physicist meeting the mathematician?

Decoherence

Plot of frequency versus how long my good ideas last. Most of the ideas seem good for about ten minutes.

This comic idea felt like a good idea when I made it… It’s a good thing I drew it in under ten!

Warning Label

A label: Warning! Leaps of logic, a lack of clear steps, unnecessary references, and complex language follow. Proceed with caution. Caption: The label that should be attached to most papers.

In the far future, a supervisor sits down with their graduate student on their first meeting.

Supervisor: “You’re about to embark on an incredible journey. You will read lots of papers, and now these warnings are attached to nearly all of them.”

Student: “Will I ever see one without a warning?”

Supervisor: “I’ll put it this way: I still haven’t.”

Domain Fight

A scientist approaches the Name Tavern. "Welcome to the Name Tavern! What name would you like to reserve for your discipline?" "I'd like to register the name 'Astrology' for, you know, those of us who study the stars." "Alright, coming right up..." "Wait a second. I'm sorry, but it looks like another group registered it about an hour ago." "What?! Who could have done such a thing?" "I don't know. They did mention birth signs."

Those astrologers know that getting the perfect domain name is the first step to appearing legitimate.

Stuffed

Scientist pushing a box labelled "Presentation" closed. "Come on, I know I can fit a bit more in here..."

I can’t let any second or slide go to waste!

Code 30

Left panel: "Ugh, this stupid error! I have no idea what it means." "What is it?" "Code 30." Right panel: "Ha!" "What's so funny?" "Code 30 means that the issue is 30 cm in front of the computer."

Isn’t it impressive how technology is self-aware enough to tell that you’re the problem?

Scattered

A bunch of papers, all flowing up in their connections to the original idea, but with all of the needed details scattered amongst the literature.

Not pictured: The paper cited in the original work that simply says, “In preparation”, with no other identifying information.