this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
368 points (96.7% liked)

Science Memes

11243 readers
2932 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 182 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (8 children)

What about plain old x = -10?

-10 ^ 2 = 100
-10 ^ 3 = -1000
-10 ^ 5 = -100000

[–] Redacted@lemmy.world 121 points 4 months ago

Isn't that the joke?

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 67 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's what he wrote, I imagine.

[–] Siethron@lemmy.world 39 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It is, but with imaginary numbets

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 47 points 4 months ago

i² = -1 so...

[–] dwindling7373@feddit.it 32 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Abracadaniel@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

of course, but this problem is solvable without any understanding of complex numbers, and 10*i^2 is a really clunky, multi-operation expression whereas -10 is just an integer.

simplifying one's answers is standard practice and any grader who received the answer in the OP would be obligated to point out that while technically correct, they're missing the basic fact that the answer is -10.

The Rube Goldberg comment is apt as the solution is absurdly complicated and overengineered for the task it performs.

[–] dwindling7373@feddit.it 2 points 4 months ago

Yes that's what the thing you are looking at is built upon.

[–] thedudeabides@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 40 points 4 months ago (1 children)

people being pedantic showoffs doesn't really register as humor for me, TBH

[–] thedudeabides@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 months ago

That's true, the OOP is being quite snarky with their comment on a post where someone's had a genuine basic doubt

[–] aaaaaaadjsf@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah exactly you're right, why overcomplicate the problem like the Reddit comment did? I guess that's just typical Reddit thinking that being pendantic and using lots of fancy words and long explanations makes you smart.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Nah just boiler plate autism.

[–] Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago

That was my immediate thought too.

[–] Sphks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 months ago