Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Balancing Act

A student tries to balance a bunch of dishes on their head, hands, and foot. A metaphor for memorizing before tests.

Just a little bit more to go, and then everything can come crashing down!

09 Dec 2019

Exam Worry

A graph depicting the amount of worry a student has with respect to their exam over time.

Whenever I get out from a difficult test, I tell myself, “Just get to that three month mark!”

06 Dec 2019

Cooking Up

Student: "Professor, why do you make the problems so hard for us?" Professor: "Hard?! If you think this is bad, wait until you get to grad school. We are like chefs here! We cook up perfect problems for you. It only gets worse."

“From what we give you, it might be possible to think that you could solve any problem in the world. If only!”

04 Dec 2019

Big Numbers

Person 1: "Look at all those stars! Do you ever step back in awe as a physicist at all of the mind-boggling numbers you deal with?" Person 2: "No, we physicists have figured out a way to get rid of that feeling. The speed of light? We set it to 1. The distance from here to the Sun? 1 A.U. The trick is to always redefine big numbers into smaller numbers." P1: "Now I see why you don't do any scientific outreach."

If it was possible, I think physicists would like to exclusively work with the number 1.

02 Dec 2019

Two Types of Tests

On the left, a student ascends a rollercoaster, feeling comfortable. On the right, their cart does a midair "jump" across a gap. The difference between knowing what to expect and having a teacher throw a curve ball.

Just like a rollercoaster, the one consolation is that they both have a fixed time.

29 Nov 2019

Mapping

A function from reality to reality. As an input, an unsuspecting student. As an output, a proof machine.

Warning: this function is not invertible.

27 Nov 2019

Hoops

Researcher 1: "Did you read my proof I sent you?" Researcher 2: "I tried, but I couldn't get through it." Researcher 1: "Oh, that's because you have to read it during a full moon with one eye closed, in an area without Wi-Fi."

“Ah, I did the rest, but I forgot about the Wi-Fi part. Silly me!”

25 Nov 2019

Good Enough

A student climbs a hill toward the top 1% of their field, and can't help but feel like they aren't good enough, even though they are further ahead than the 99%.

You’re allowed to look back and enjoy your progress, you know.

22 Nov 2019

Linearity

Linearity of expectation.

I’m just trying to not break mathematics here.

20 Nov 2019

Bad Calibration

After realizing one small thing went badly on a test, a student says, "Oh no, I really messed up that question! That probably means I got other things wrong too! I'm done for! I'm going to fail the course! How could I be so stup..." On how our internal calibrators are a little too biased toward negative results.

I am notorious for getting into these thought cycles. I go from one thing wrong to imagining that I’ve somehow forgotten everything about physics, and sooner than later I’ve convinced myself that I know nothing.

18 Nov 2019