3 ms·
There is a joke I like that goes A professor of mathematics noticed that his kitchen sink at his home leaked. He called a plumber. The plumber came the next da
by ronald_raygun 8y ago
There is a joke I like that goes
A professor of mathematics noticed that his kitchen sink at his home leaked. He called a plumber. The plumber came the next day and sealed a few screws, and everything was working as before.
The professor was delighted. However, when the plumber gave him the bill a minute later, he was shocked.
"This is one-third of my monthly salary!" he yelled.
Well, all the same he paid it and then the plumber said to him, "I understand your position as a professor. Why don't you come to our company and apply for a plumber position? You will earn three times as much as a professor. But remember, when you apply, tell them that you completed only seven elementary classes. They don't like educated people."
So it happened. The professor got a job as a plumber and his life significantly improved. He just had to seal a screw or two occasionally, and his salary went up significantly.
One day, the board of the plumbing company decided that every plumber had to go to evening classes to complete the eighth grade. So, our professor had to go there too. It just happened that the first class was math. The evening teacher, to check students' knowledge, asked for a formula for the area of a circle. The person asked was the professor. He jumped to the board, and then he realized that he had forgotten the formula. He started to reason it, and he filled the white board with integrals, differentials, and other advanced formulas to conclude the result he forgot. As a result, he got "minus pi times r square."
He didn't like the minus, so he started all over again. He got the minus again. No matter how many times he tried, he always got a minus. He was frustrated. He gave the class a frightened look and saw all the plumbers whisper: "Switch the limits of the integral!!"
- hitekker 8y agoA subtle and strong twist ending!
- shoo 8y agowell told! i've heard this before as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13587528 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13587528 the entire HN thread for "CIA Declassified Coldwar Russian Jokes [pdf]" is pretty good value https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13585511 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13585511
- vowelless 8y agoTwo mathematicians are in a bar. The first one says to the second that the average person knows very little about basic mathematics. The second one disagrees, and claims that most people can cope with a reasonable amount of mathematics. The first mathematician goes off to the washroom, and in his absence the second calls over the waitress. He tells her that in a few minutes, after his friend has returned, he will call her over and ask her a question. All she has to do is answer “one third x cubed.” She repeats “one thir — dex cue”? He repeats, “one third x cubed”. She asks, “one thir dex cubed?” “Yes, that’s right,” he says. So she agrees, and goes off mumbling to herself, “one thir dex cubed…”. The first guy returns and the second proposes a bet to prove his point, that most people do know something about basic mathematics. He says he will ask the blonde waitress an integral, and the first laughingly agrees. The second man calls over the waitress and asks “what is the integral of x squared?”. The waitress says “one third x cubed” and whilst walking away, turns back and says over her shoulder “plus a constant!” https://simonsingh.net/books/fermats-last-theorem/mathematical-and-scientific-joke-competition/ https://simonsingh.net/books/fermats-last-theorem/mathematic...
- wolf550e 8y agoThis is a joke about a Soviet engineer, and in that context it makes perfect sense.