Simplify : mathmemes

[-] greybeard@lemmy.one 171 points 2 years ago

For those of you who were confused even after reading the comments: (a)(b) basically means a*b. My mind just didn't connect that to the fact that (x-x)=0. in the (a-x)(b-x) stuff is also (x-x) which = 0, and anything * 0 = 0, so no matter the value of literally everything else in the equation, it all equals out to 0 because every single () will get multiplied by (x-x), which is 0. There, hopefully that will clear it up for anyone remaining lost. And like all good jokes, they are always best when you have to explain them.

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[-] Saganaki@lemmy.one 87 points 2 years ago

For those that struggled like me…

Going from a-z, write out the last three multiplicands.

[-] dditty@lemm.ee 52 points 2 years ago

X-X

Ah

[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 years ago

For those of you who still struggled like me, a multiplicand in this case refers to one of the (n-x) terms.

[-] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago

a multiplicand in this case refers to one of the (n-x) terms

Well, that's what was apparently meant, but in fact the correct terminology here is factors. There's only multiplicands (and multipliers) with an explicit multiplication sign. axb - multiplicand a and multiplier b, ab - Term with factors a and b, and a is the coefficient of this Term.

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[-] the_tab_key@lemmy.world 54 points 2 years ago

Even if the x-x term didn't exist, the equation is already simplified (fully factored) so there is nothing to do anyway.

[-] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 2 points 2 years ago

is already simplified (fully factored)

No it isn't, given one of the factors is equal to zero. That's like saying 2/4 is fully simplified when clearly it isn't. Students lose marks in tests for not simplifying their answers. Writing 2/4 as an answer would only get half-marks. Similarly, the only full-marks answer to this question is 0.

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[+] LostXOR@fedia.io 48 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

[deleted]

[-] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

Couldn't you combine a lot of like terms as you went along, though? A polynomial of the order x^26^ would only have 27 terms.

[-] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 2 points 2 years ago

33,554,432 terms

Actually it would be that many factors. The whole thing is a single Term.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 41 points 2 years ago

This was impossible to answer prior to 3 BC.

[-] anzo@programming.dev 16 points 2 years ago

Unless you were Mayan. They had a concept of zero, or so I heard. But they lacked the letters, a-z and the parentheses :p

[-] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

Why?

[-] magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 36 points 2 years ago

0 wasn’t invented yet.

Mesopotamians invented it because year 0 was approaching, so there was a dire need to represent such number.

[-] scapegarced@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 years ago

TIL they had ghost concerts back then

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[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

That’s when the number 0 was introduced in India.

[-] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

Ah, I forgot zero was so recent.

[-] atro_city@fedia.io 13 points 2 years ago

Solution?

[-] magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 64 points 2 years ago

0

There’s an (x - x) in there

[-] copd@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Technically there is a (x - 𝑥) in there. U+1D465 != x so this post is a little meh

[-] MBM@lemmings.world 11 points 2 years ago

Mathematicians do weird stuff to get more letters, but I've never seen anyone use x and 𝑥 for different things

[-] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

I've never seen anyone use x and 𝑥 for different things

Yeah, me neither. I have had situations where I needed to distinguish between u, v, nu, and upsilon though. I had to be very careful with my handwriting that day...

[-] joshthewaster@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

They also wouldn't want to be ambiguous. If I was trying to write this problem the a, b, c... would get replaced by something like a_1, a_2,..., a_26 to be clearer. This problem works as a fun gotcha but isn't something that would come up in the real world.

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[-] atro_city@fedia.io 6 points 2 years ago

duh...

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[-] sag@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

0

[-] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 2 points 2 years ago

Now I want pie.

Math Memes