prime-factors
Original: prime-factors on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Child: Dad, what's a prime factor?
Dad: Well, a factor of a number is just some other number that divides into it.
Panel 2:
Dad: A prime factor is like a really good factor.
Panel 3:
Dad: Like, say you have 12. Its factors are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.
Panel 4:
Dad: And 4? That's prime stuff.
Panel 5:
Child: What about two and three?
Dad: Pfff! Use those all day long. 2-3 ha combo! 2-3 ha punch! It's tiresome.
Panel 6:
Dad: But take 4, for instance. There's a prime factor.
Child: I... okay. I get it.
Panel 7:
Dad: You sure? Know a lot of math, dad?
Child: Most of it. Yeah.
Panel 8:
Dad: Oh! What's least common multiple?
Child: 52.
Votey:
The child (now drawn with a tired, sunglasses-wearing exasperated expression):
Child: All that stuff I said was a lie group.
Child: Dad, what's a prime factor?
Dad: Well, a factor of a number is just some other number that divides into it.
Panel 2:
Dad: A prime factor is like a really good factor.
Panel 3:
Dad: Like, say you have 12. Its factors are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.
Panel 4:
Dad: And 4? That's prime stuff.
Panel 5:
Child: What about two and three?
Dad: Pfff! Use those all day long. 2-3 ha combo! 2-3 ha punch! It's tiresome.
Panel 6:
Dad: But take 4, for instance. There's a prime factor.
Child: I... okay. I get it.
Panel 7:
Dad: You sure? Know a lot of math, dad?
Child: Most of it. Yeah.
Panel 8:
Dad: Oh! What's least common multiple?
Child: 52.
Votey:
The child (now drawn with a tired, sunglasses-wearing exasperated expression):
Child: All that stuff I said was a lie group.
Alt text
An eight-panel black-and-white comic. A child asks their dad to explain prime factors, and the dad gives a confidently wrong, nonsensical math explanation. He says a factor is a number that divides into another, then claims a prime factor is 'like a really good factor.' Using 12 as an example (factors 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12), he declares that 4 is 'prime stuff' (4 is not prime). When the child asks about 2 and 3 (the actual primes), the dad dismisses them with mock fighting-game lingo ('2-3 ha combo! It's tiresome'), insisting 4 is the real prime factor. The child reluctantly says they get it. The dad smugly asks if the child knows a lot of math, then abruptly demands the least common multiple, and the child answers '52' with no context. The whole exchange is confident nonsense. Votey (aftercomic): a single panel showing the child, now drawn with sunglasses and a weary, defeated frown, saying 'All that stuff I said was a lie group' — a pun on 'Lie group' (a real math concept) and 'a lie.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.