Collatz Conjecture
by Jeff
Image text: The Strong Collatz Conjecture states that this holds for any set of obsessively-hand-applied rules.
The Collatz Conjecture is a undecided or unsolved mathematical conjecture in which you have to do just as the comic says. However, the comic takes it one step further since this conjecture is unsolved, you can keep working on it (by hand) obsessively until you do not have any friends any more. Unless those friends want to come over and do math equations and conjectures by hand with you.
Principle of Explosion
by Jeff
Image text: You want me to pick up waffle cones? Oh, right, for the wine. One sec, let me just derive your son's credit card number and I'll be on my way.
The principle of explosion means that if you assume that something is both true and untrue at the same time, then you can prove any conclusion. Usually, someone would prove that something is true or false, but in the comic, the principle is used to derive a phone number and a credit card number. The joke in the comic is taking the mathematical logic to the next level to make a joke about the first character's mom.
The equation in the third frame is the typical notation for a principle of explosion equation. It means "P and Not P". P represents some statement such as "the sky is blue". So, the equation is: "The sky is blue and the sky is NOT blue." From that premise, you can prove anything. In the comic, you can even prove a phone number or credit card number.
Snow Tracking
by Jeff
Image text: I suppose that's more accurately a hare dryer.
Moose and Squirrel is a reference to the Rocky and Bullwinkle series of cartoons.
Longcat is a internet meme from pictures of cats all stretched out that make them look very tall (or long).
Mouse riding Bicycle is a reference to Ralph S. Mouse, a series of novels by Beverly Cleary.
The image text is a pun on the Rabbit with a hair dryer frame.
Legolas is a reference to the character by the same name in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of books and movies.
Knight is a chess reference as the tracks move just like the knight piece in chess.
The two "Kid with" frames are a reference to Calvin and Hobbes.
Prius is a reference to current events in which the car Toyota Prius's pedals have malfunctioned causing accidents.
The final frame is the Higgs Boson which is an elementary particle they are attempting to find evidence of in the Large Hadron Collider.
Anyone know what the Bobcat on a Pogo Stick is a reference to? That's the only one I can't get.
Dirty Harry
by Jeff
Image text: Sci-fi has energy weapons because otherwise the people like me who watch it get distracted counting shots.
Here's the full quote from Dirty Harry (a movie about a San Francisco cop who lives a bit outside of the rules to get the job done):
I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Rain Man is a movie about two brothers, one who is autistic played by Dustin Hoffman, the other played by Tom Cruise.
In the case of this comic, the person on the ground is autistic, so he has no trouble counting the bullets from Dirty Harry's gun.
Because of his counting skill, "Rain Man" is able to thwart Dirty Harry's intimidation's effect.
Self-Description
by Jeff
Image text: The contents of any one panel are dependent on the contents of every panel including itself. The graph of panel dependencies is complete and bidirectional, and each node has a loop. The mouseover text has two hundred and forty-two characters.
This is a comic, like the name, that describes itself. However, as the image text explains, the contents are dependent on themselves and the other data.
The first frame is a pie chart of the black and white percentages of the whole comic strip. If more black or white is added to any frame in the comic, the pie chart will change.
If the pie chart changes, the graph in frame 2 will change, which will cause the pie chart to change again and so on and so forth.
The third frame is an infinite loop of the comic. If you look hard you can see the comic again and again in the last frame.
Dimensional Analysis
by Jeff
Image text: Or the pressure at the Earth's core will rise slightly.
Dimensional analysis is a tool to better understand the properties of items using an equation the helps to convert between different units of measure. In this case, the comic says that the units check out.
Planck energy is a system energy made up of Planck units.
The pressure at the earth's core is over 3.5 million times atmospheric pressure.
Prius's gas mileage (as tested by the EPA) is 51 highway / 48 city.
The smallest width of the English Channel is 21 miles between Dover, England and Calais, France.
The image text is a continuation of the teacher's comments from the comic.
Revolutionary
by Jeff
Image text: I mean, what's more likely -- that I have uncovered fundamental flaws in this field that no one in it has ever thought about, or that I need to read a little more? Hint: it's the one that involves less work.
This comic is a discussion between two characters, the main character and the Philosophy major who has a goatee. The image text is an additional comment by the character which the goatee.
The character with the goatee is suggesting that the people of science like the main character are holding firmly to their belief of the theory of special relativity.
This is a stereotypical representation of people such as Philosophy majors who thumb their noses at Phyics majors or other scientific ideas, which thinking that they always have the answers and have thought of a new idea that has never been thought of before. This is referenced in the image text.
Academia vs Business
by Jeff
Image text: Some engineer out there has solved P=NP and it's locked up in an electric eggbeater calibration routine. For every 0x5f375a86 we learn about, there are thousands we never see.
This comic is a flow chart defining what would happen if this person solved an impossible problem given to him and what would happen if he were in academia or in business. The argument seems to be here that Academia is much better than business, at least for the ego.
p=NP problem is one of the great unsolved problems in computer science. The Clay Mathematics Institute has a $1 million prize to the first person or group who solves it.
EDIT: As mentioned by just about everybody in the comments, 0x5f375a86 is the algorithm to approximate the solution to the square root of an unsigned floating number, also known as fast inverse square root. The solution uses an ingenious first approximation and the difficult problem was solved without any fanfare (like in the cartoon) for the game, Quake III Arena. Thanks everyone!
Reverse Polish Sausage
by Mike
Image text: It looks good, but it needs more postfixins.
This comic is based on the Reverse Polish notation proposed for use in mathematics. It's also sometimes known as postfix notation because the operators follow all of it's operands. For example, In normal notation if you wanted to add the numbers 3, 4, and 5 you would write 3 + 4 + 5. Using reverse polish notation it would be written as 3 4 5 +.
Psychic
by Jeff
Image text: You can do a lot better than 1% if you start keeping track of the patterns in what numbers people pick.
That's two easy ones in a row. My only question is, what about the other 99% of people that you try this trick on? Is it worth it for 1% of the people to think you are a psychic and the other 99% think you are a dope?