2011-02-26
Original: 2011-02-26 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title: HOW TO INFURIATE A MATH MAJOR:
The panel shows a graph. The vertical y-axis is marked with the numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1 going down to up. A red curve rises steeply from the origin and then flattens out into a nearly horizontal line at the height of about 1, with a slight dip near the right edge.
The y-axis itself is labeled (where an axis title would go): "LABELED AXES ON THIS GRAPH"
Votey:
Header bar: ALSO...
A bald man (shown in profile/three-quarter view) looks annoyed, speaking toward another curly-haired person partially visible at the right edge of the panel.
Bald man: "BLAH BLAH BLAH. I JUST NEED AN EQUATION, NOT THE GENERAL CASE."
The panel shows a graph. The vertical y-axis is marked with the numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1 going down to up. A red curve rises steeply from the origin and then flattens out into a nearly horizontal line at the height of about 1, with a slight dip near the right edge.
The y-axis itself is labeled (where an axis title would go): "LABELED AXES ON THIS GRAPH"
Votey:
Header bar: ALSO...
A bald man (shown in profile/three-quarter view) looks annoyed, speaking toward another curly-haired person partially visible at the right edge of the panel.
Bald man: "BLAH BLAH BLAH. I JUST NEED AN EQUATION, NOT THE GENERAL CASE."
Alt text
Title: "How to infuriate a math major:" The single panel is a hand-drawn graph. The y-axis is numbered 1 through 4. A red curve climbs steeply from the origin then flattens into a roughly horizontal line at a height near 1. The joke is that the axis label reads "Labeled axes on this graph" — the quantity being plotted is literally how many labeled axes the graph has, which is just the one (since only the y-axis is labeled), so the curve self-referentially levels off at 1. The vagueness and self-reference is what would infuriate a precise math major. Votey (aftercomic), header "Also...": a bald man looks annoyed as he speaks toward a curly-haired person at the panel's edge, saying "Blah blah blah. I just need an equation, not the general case." — mocking the impatient, imprecise attitude that frustrates mathematicians.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.