scalars
Original: scalars on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title/caption (top): FUNTIME ACTIVITY: RUINING STUDENTS FOREVER
Panel 1:
Bald man (a teacher, in a suit and tie): The first thing a physics student must learn is vectors and scalars. The difference between vectors and scalars is that scalars don't care.
Red-haired student: What about *amount* of apples?
Panel 2:
Bald teacher: Huh? Oh, you're referring to "distance" in apple-space.
Votey:
A wide-eyed, unsettled face stares ahead as a speech bubble says: Now, dot products are products with a decimal dot.
Panel 1:
Bald man (a teacher, in a suit and tie): The first thing a physics student must learn is vectors and scalars. The difference between vectors and scalars is that scalars don't care.
Red-haired student: What about *amount* of apples?
Panel 2:
Bald teacher: Huh? Oh, you're referring to "distance" in apple-space.
Votey:
A wide-eyed, unsettled face stares ahead as a speech bubble says: Now, dot products are products with a decimal dot.
Alt text
A two-panel comic captioned "Funtime activity: ruining students forever." In the first panel, a bald teacher in a suit and tie explains, "The first thing a physics student must learn is vectors and scalars. The difference between vectors and scalars is that scalars don't care." A red-haired student asks, "What about *amount* of apples?" In the second panel the teacher, looking blank, replies, "Huh? Oh, you're referring to 'distance' in apple-space"—deliberately nonsensical pseudo-rigor. Votey: a hand-drawn face with wide, slightly horrified eyes stares forward while a speech bubble adds another bogus definition: "Now, dot products are products with a decimal dot." The joke is a teacher confidently feeding students absurd, made-up math definitions.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.